Throughput Analysis of a Broadband Multimedia Satellite Fast-Packet Switch

Ka band multimedia satellite networks have the potential to bring two-way broadband services directly to the end-user while providing ubiquitous global connectivity with Quality-of-Service (QoS) guarantees. TRW’s satellite network architecture design process involves Demand, Design and Financial modeling. The main Design challenge is to balance the delivery of network services and QoS demanded by users, minimize the size, weight and power (SWAP) of the processing satellite, maximize the throughput-revenue capacity, and minimize the overall cost of the network. A basic design tradeoff exists between the throughput of the satellite switch and the QoS delivered to the end-user. Mechanisms to ensure QoS in a satellite are constrained by the satellite SWAP. An important component of the satellite SWAP is the amount of memory needed to buffer data packets, which is directly related to the throughput and Cell Loss Ratio (CLR) achievable in the fast-packet switch. This paper describes a small sample of some of our early simulation and analysis efforts to start the architecture design cycle, where the focus was on the throughput of the switch and output port buffer requirements. The analysis assumes geographically dispersed users running multimedia applications with two-way broadband connectivity through the satellite. The paper further illustrates how analysis and simulation contribute to a successful network design.