Network Management in ATM LEO Satellite Networks

Development of the past decade have confirmed that ATM technology has the potential of becoming the transport mechanism in many multimedia networks where high-speed traffic and Quality of Service guarantees must be provided. More recently, we have witnessed a surge of interest in Low Earth Orbiting (LEO) satellite networks with on-board ATM switches, which hold the promise of offering an economically viable extension of terrestrial ATM systems by providing connectivity to areas where existing terrestrial networks are either infeasible or impractical. Network management in ATM LEO satellite networks is typically performed by the Network Control Center (NCC). The main contribution of this paper is to examine basic NCC requirements, to propose a Network Management System architectural configuration with a stand-by solution, to investigate the NCC protocol stack, and to describe an experimental satellite Management Information Base (SMIB) that we have developed for implementation in ATM LEO satellite networks.