Interconnection and interoperability: a real issue

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From the course by Institut Mines-Télécom

Introduction to Satellite Communications

245 ratings

Institut Mines-Télécom

Introduction to Satellite Communications

245 ratings

How is a satellite built? How do they fly? How do they communicate and how does the network operate? You will get all the answers in this course from teachers and researchers from three schools associated with Institut Mines-Télécom. The course is made of : teaching videos, equipment demonstrations and simulation programs. They will guide you through the discovery of satellite communications. Professionals in the space field will share there vocation for this scientific and technical sector. Have you ever wanted to know more about transponders, the geostationary orbit, QPSK modulation, channel coding, link budget, TCP over large bandwdith x delay product links ? This course is for you! This course is available in English: French-speaking lecturers with English subtitles and fully translated contents (slides, practices). This MOOC is supported by the Patrick and Lina Drahi Foundation.

From the lesson

Networking and services

This module explains how services such as voice, television and Internet access are provided by means of communications satellites.

Introduction2:55

Before the Internet4:12

Internet and the notion of network3:51

Interconnection and interoperability: a real issue5:16

The notion of protocol6:17

Going further: Internet Protocol and the hourglass4:18

Meet the Instructors

Laurent Franck
Professor
IMT Atlantique, on leave to Airbus Defence & Space as of September 1st, 2017
Tarik Benaddi
Associate Professor
IMT Atlantique
Julien Fasson
Associate Professor
INPT/ENSEEIHT
Nathalie Thomas
Associate professor
INPT/ENSEEIHT
Marie-Laure Boucheret
Professor
INPT/ENSEEIHT

-Today, the Internet has become a key standard.

In about 2-3 decades, it has become a cornerstone

in all the telecommunication networks. Thus, any system has an interest,

at least economically speaking, in being integrated into Internet.

Why so?

First because more and more networks, almost all of them,

can approach Internet, be integrated into it, and are so.

So if you wish to interconnect with other networks,

either you have to work on the interconnection with a given network,

or you can interconnect with Internet and thus access every network

interconnected with Internet.

Secondly, since Internet is very successful because it is global

and widely used, most applications and services are designed to work

on the Internet network and not only on one given network technology.

So if you want to use these applications, the easiest way to do so

is to be integrated into Internet

instead of redeveloping your application yourself.

So there really is a challenge for satellites.

I will mention the three positions satellites could have.

I believe you saw this rather quickly during week 2.

The first position for satellites

is to be an access network.

When satellites are an access network, they give a direct access to services

for the end user.

This is similar to the relay that allows your cell phone

to access phone services.

The network between this relay and you is the access network.

Also, if you consider your box as the end user,

the ADSL network, the optical fiber or the cable is the access network.

Last example, if you consider your cell phone at home,

the relay supplying it will be, for example, the box.

The Wi-Fi network between your box and your cell phone

becomes a kind of access network.

Usually we rather talk about femtocell in this situation.

Another option is the backhaul position.

It is not directly linked to the user, it is about serving

the access network of the user, backhaul or backhauling.

For example, it can be a network of users onboard a plane or a boat.

In that case, if you supply this network of users,

you are backhauling. Another example.

If you consider a small village with Wi-Fi spots everywhere,

you can supply this large Wi-Fi network with a satellite system.

The last position for satellites

is to be a backbone.

Those are symmetrical links that allow the transit

of a lot of very high-speed broadband information in the network.

These links are located at the core of the network.

Usually we use large optical fiber cables.

The satellite backbone is mostly a backup

if the cables were to be cut or are undergoing maintenance.

You can see here the picture of the first submarine cable

between England and Canada.

We have seen the three satellite positions.

Since you well deserve it, we now need to define interoperability

and interconnection.

For a satellite system, or any other system, being interoperable

means talking with devices from different manufacturers and brands

as long as they comply with a certain interface.

For example, how an iPhone can talk with a Galaxy.

Interconnection is about how two technologies

can communicate with each other. For example, if you are placing a 3G call,

how can you make sure that this 3G connection

works with your interlocutor connected in Wi-Fi.

This is interconnection. Of course, all of this is a major challenge

if one wishes to be integrated into the Internet or any technology.

But we still lack an essential notion to understand this: the protocol.

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