List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
3G 3
rd
Generation
3GPP 3
rd
Generation Partnership
Project
4G 4
th
Generation
AAA Authentication, Authorization
and Accounting
ABC Always Best Connected
ABR Available Bit Rate
AC Adaptive Coding
ACK Acknowledgement
ACM Adaptive Coding and
Modulation
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber
Line
AF Assured Forwarding
AICH Acquisition Indicator Channel
AIMD Additive Increase Multiplicative
Decrease
AP Access Point
API Application Programming
Interface
APP Application layer
APSK Amplitude and Phase Shift
Keying

AQM Active Queue Management
AR Access Router
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest
ASC Access Service Class
ASD Aggregated System Demand
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
AVBDC Absolute Volume Based
Dynamic Capacity
AWG N Additive White Gaussian Noise
BCH Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem
(in Chapter 1)
BCH Broadcast Channel
(in Chapter 5)
BDP Bandwidth-Delay Product
BE Best Effort
BER Bit Error Rate
BGAN Broadband Global Area
Network
BGAN-X BGAN Extension project
B-ISDN Broadband Integrated Services
Digital Network
BLER Block Error Rate
BM-SC Broadcast-Multicast Service
Center
BO Bandwidth Occupation
BoD Bandwidth on Demand
BPM BSM Protocol Manager
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying
BS Base Station

BSA Broadband Satellite Access
BSM Broadband Satellite Multimedia
BSM
ID BSM Identifier
BSS Broadcasting Satellite Service
BTP Burst Time Plan
CA Congestion Avoidance
CAC Call Admission Control
CBP Call Blocking Probability
CBQ Class-Based Queuing
CBR Constant Bit Rate
CCM Constant Coding Modulation
CDM Code Division Multiplexing
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CDMA/HDR CDMA/High Data Rate
CDP Call Dropping Probability
CDVT Cell Delay Variation Tolerance
CEN European Committee for
Standardization
CENELEC European Committee for
Electro-technical
Standardization
CEPT European Conference of Postal
and Telecommunications
Administrations
CF/DAMA Combined Free/Demand
Assignment Multiple Access
C/I Carrier-to-Interference ratio
CIF-Q Channel Condition -
Independent Fair Queuing

C/I PS C/I Proportional Scheduler
CIST Common Internal Spanning
Tree
CLR Cell Loss Ratio
CM Control Module
xxiv Acronyms
CMF Control and Monitoring
Functions
C/N Carrier power-to-Noise power
ratio
CN Core Network
COPS Common Open Policy Service
COST Co-operation in the field of
Scientific and Technical
Research
CP Complete Partitioning
CQI Channel Quality Indicator
CR Capacity Request
CRA Continuous Rate Assignment
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
CS Complete Sharing
C-SAP Control-SAP
CSI Channel State Information
cwnd congestion window
DAMA Demand Assignment Multiple
Access
DBA Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation
DBAC Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation
Capabilities
DBRA Dynamic Bandwidth and

Resource Allocation
DBS Direct Broadcast Satellite
DBS-RCS DBS with Return Channel
System
DCA Dynamic Channel
(or Capacity) Allocation
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
DCH Dedicated Channel
DDP Delay Differentiation
Parameter
DDQ Delay Differentiation Queuing
DiffServ Differentiated Service
DLL Data Link Layer
DMBS Double-Movable Boundary
Strategy
DOCSIS-S Data Over Cable Service
Interface Specification for
Satellite
DP Differentiation Parameter
DPSK Differential Phase Shift Keying
DRA Dynamic Resource Allocation
DRT Delayed Real-Time
DS Direct Sequence
DSCH Downlink Shared Channel
DSCP DiffServ Code Point
DSNG Digital Satellite News
Gathering
DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel
D-TDMA Dynamic TDMA
DTH Direct-To-Home

DULM Data Unit Labeling Method
dupACKs duplicate ACKs
DVB Digital Video Broadcasting
DVB-C
DVB-Cable
DVB-CAS DVB-Conditional Access
System
DVB-GBS DVB-Global Broadcast Service
DVB-H DVB-Handheld
DVB-RCC DVB-Return Channel via Cable
DVB-RCL DVB-Return Channel
for LMDS
DVB-RCS DVB-Return Channel via
Satellite
DVB-RCT DVB-Return Channel via
Terrestrial
DVB-S Digital Video Broadcasting via
Satellite
DVB-S2 DVB-Satellite version 2
DVB-T DVB-Terrestrial
DVB-TM DVB-Technical Module
EBU European Broadcasting Union
ECC Electronic Communications
Committee
ECN Explicit Congestion
Notification
ECSS European Co-operation on
Space Standardization
EDF Earliest Deadline First
EF Expedited Forwarding

EHF Extremely High Frequency
EIRP Effective Isotropic Radiated
Power
EMC ElectroMagnetic Compatibility
EqB Equivalent Bandwidth
ERA European Research Area
ERM EMC and Radio spectrum
Matters
ESA European Space Agency
ETSI European Telecommunications
Standards Institute
EU European Union
FA Fixed Assignment
FAC H Forward Access Channel
FC FIFO Maximum Capacity
FCA Free Capacity Assignment
(in Chapters 1, 7, 8 and 9)
FCA Fixed Channel Allocation
(in Chapter 2)
FCFS First Come First Served
FCT Frame Composition Table
FDD Frequency Division Duplexing
FDM Frequency Division
Multiplexing
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple
Access
FEC Forward Error Correction
FER Frame Erasure Rates
(in Chapter 3)
FER Frame Error Rate

(in Chapter 5)
FH Frequency Hopping
FHO Fast HandOver
FI
Fairness Index
F
id frame ID
FIFO First In First Out
FL1-HARQ Fast L1 hybrid ARQ
FMT Fade Mitigation Techniques
F
nb frame number
FP Framework Programme
FSK Frequency Shift Keying
FSS Fixed Satellite Service
FTP File Transfer Protocol
FZC Forward Erasure Correction
GB Guaranteed Bandwidth
GEO Geosynchronous
(Geostationary) Earth Orbit
GM Guaranteed Minimum
GOPs GroupofPictures
GoS Grade of Service
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
Acronyms xxv
GPS Generalized Processor Sharing
GSM Global System for Mobile
Communications
GW Gateway or Traffic Gateway
HCA Hybrid Channel Allocation

HDTV High Definition Television
HLS Hierarchical Link Sharing
HNS Hughes Network Systems
HP High-Priority
HPA High Power Amplifier
HPD Hybrid Proportional Delay
HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet
Access
HS-DPCCH High Speed Dedicated Physical
Control Channel
HS-DSCH High Speed-DSCH
HS-PDSCH High Speed Physical Downlink
Shared Channel
HTML HyperText Mark-Up Language
IAB Internet Architecture Board
IBR Information Bit Rate
ICMP Internet Control Message
Protocol
IEEE Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers
IETF Internet Engineering Task
Force
IFR Increasing Failure Rate
IM Inter-Modulation
IMT International Mobile
Telecommunications
IntServ Integrated Service
IP Internet Protocol
IPA Infinitesimal Perturbation
Analysis

IP-CAS IP-based Conditional Access
System
IPoS Internet Protocol over Satellite
ISDN Integrated Services Digital
Network
ISI Integral Satcom Initiative
ISLs Inter-Satellite Links
ISN Interactive Satellite Network
ISO/OSI International Standard
Organization/Open System
Interconnection
ISP Internet Service Provider
IST Information Society
Technologies
ITU International
Telecommunication Union
ITU-D ITU - Telecommunication
Development sector
ITU-R ITU - Radiocommunication
sector
ITU-T ITU - Telecommunication
sector
IWFQ Idealized Wireless Fair Queuing
IWU Inter-Working Unit
KKT
Karush-Kuhn-Tucker
L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)
L2 Layer 2 (link/MAC layer)
L3 Layer 3 (network layer)
LAN Local Area Network

LC LUI Maximum Capacity
LDP Label Distribution Protocol
LDPC Low Density Parity Check
LEO Low Earth Orbit
LLC Logical Link Control
LLC/SNAP LLC/Sub-Network Access
Protocol
LMDS Local Multipoint Distribution
System
LoS Line of Sight
LP Low-Priority
LRD Long Range Dependent
LSP Label Switched Path
LSR Label Switching Router
LTF S Long-Term Fairness Server
LUI Last Useful Instant
MAC Medium Access Control
MAC-hs MAC/HS-DSCH
MAN Metropolitan Area Network
MBMS Multimedia Broadcast
Multicast Services
MBU Minimum Bandwidth Unit
MCS Master Control Station
MEO Medium Earth Orbit
MF Multi-Frequency
MF-TDMA Multi Frequency -
Time Division Multiple Access
MLI Maximum Legal Increment
MLPQ Multi-Level Priority Queuing
MMPP Markov-Modulated Poisson

Processes
MMS Multimedia Messaging Service
MN Mobile Node
MODCOD Modulation and Coding
MOS Mean Opinion Score
MPE Multi Protocol Encapsulation
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group
MPEG2-TS Moving Picture Experts Group
2 - Transport Stream
MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching
M-SAP Management-SAP
MSL Minimum Scheduling Latency
MSS Maximum Segment Size
MSTP Multiple STP
MTs Multicast Terminals
MTCH MBMS point-to-multipoint
Traffic Channel
MTU Maximum Transfer Unit
NBS Nash Bargaining Solution
NCC
Network Control Center
NCR Network Clock Reference
ND Neighbor Discovery
NGN Next-Generation Network
NoE Network of Excellence
nrt-VBR non-real-time-VBR
OBP On-Board Processor
OC Optimized Centralized
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplex

OP Optimized Proportional
PAB Proportional Allocation of
Bandwidth
PCPCH Physical Common Packet
Channel
pdf probability density function
PDS Proportional Differentiated
Service
PDU Protocol Data Unit
P-EDF Prioritized-EDF
PEP Performance Enhancing Proxy
xxvi Acronyms
PER Packet Error Rate
PF Proportional Fair
PG Processing Gain
PHB Per-Hop Behavior
PHY Physical layer
PLFRAME Physical Layer Frame
PLP Packet Loss Probability
PLR Packet Loss Rate
PMPP Pareto-Modulated Poisson
Processes
PN Pseudo Noise
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service
PRACH Physical Random Access
Channel
PRC Power Ramping Control
PRMA Packet Reservation Multiple
Access
PRMA-HS PRMA with Hindering States

PSK Phase Shift Keying
PSNR Peak Signal to Noise Ratio
PSTN Public Switched Telephone
Network
QAM Quadrature Amplitude
Modulation
QID Queuing Identifier
QoS Quality of Service
QoSMO QoS Mapping Optimization
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
RA Random Access
RAB Radio Access Bearer
RACH Random Access Channel
RAN Radio Access Network
RAT Robust Audio Tool
RB Reserved Bandwidth
RBDC Rate Based Dynamic Capacity
RCBC Reference Chaser Bandwidth
Controller
RC-PSTN Return Channel - PSTN
RCQI Relative Channel Quality Index
RCS Return Channel via Satellite
RCST Return Channel Satellite
Terminal
RED Random Early Detection
RF Radio Frequency
RHC Receding Horizon Control ler
RLC Radio Link Control
RNC Radio Network Controller
RRM Radio Resource Management

RSP Recovery Service Provider
RSTP Rapid STP
RSVP Resource Reservation Protocol
RT Real Time
RTD Round Trip propagation Delay
RTO Retransmission TimeOut
RTP Real-time Transport Protocol
RTT RoundTripTime
rt-VBR real-time-VBR
SAC Satellite Access Control
S-ALOHA Slotted-ALOHA
SBFA Server-Based Fairness Approach
S-CCPCH Secondary Common Control
Physical Channel
SCED Service Curve-based Earliest
Deadline first
SCPC Single Carrier Per Channel
SCPS-TP Space Communications Protocol
Specification-Transport Protocol
SCr Service Credit
SD Satellite-Dependent
SDMA Spatial Division Multiple
Access
S-DMB Satellite Digital Multimedia
Broadcasting
SDR Satellite Digital Radio
SDTV Standard Definition Television
SF Spreading Factor
SFM Stochastic Fluid Models
S-HSDPA HSDPA via Satellite

SI Satellite-Independent
SIR Signal-to-Interference Ratio
SI-SAP Satellite-Independent -
Service Access Point
SL Super-frame Length
SLA Service Level Agreement
S-MBMS Satellite MBMS
SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises
SMG Special Mobile Group
SMS Short Message Service
SNIR Signal to Noise and
Interference Ratio
SOHO Small Office - Home Office
SP Simple Proportional
SPC Smith Predictor Controller
SR Slot Request
SRD Short Range Dependent
SS Slow Start
ssthresh slow start threshold
ST Satellite (interactive) Terminal
STB Set-Top-Box
STFQ Stochastic Fairness Queuing
STP Spanning Tree Protocol
S-UMTS Satellite-UMTS
SWTP Satellite Waiting Time
Priority
TB Transport Block
TBTP Terminal Burst Time Plan
TC Transported Capacity
TCA Traffic Conditioning

Agreement
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TC-SES Technical Committee for
Satellite Earth Stations and
Systems
TCT Time Composition Table
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TE Terminal Equipment
Telnet TELetype NETwork
TF Transport Format
TFC Transport Format Combination
TFCI Transport Format Combination
Indication
TFCS Transport Format Combination
Set
TFRC Transport Format and
Resource Combination
TIST Telecommunications,
Information Science and
Technology
TM Transmission & Multiplexing
TOS Type Of Service
TR Trunk Reservation
TS Time Slot
TS
nb timeslot number
Acronyms xxvii
TTI Transmission Time Interval
T-UMTS Terrestrial UMTS

TWTA Traveling-Wave-Tube
Amplifier
UBR Unspecified Bit Rate
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UE User Equipment
UL Upper Limit
UMTS Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System
UPC Usage Parameter Control
URAN UMTS Radio Access Network
U-SAP User-SAP
UT User Terminal
VBDC Volume Based Dynamic
Capacity
VBR Variable Bit Rate
VC Virtual Channel
VCM Variable Coding and
Modulation
VLAN Virtual Local Area Networks
VLL Virtual Leased Line
VoI P Voice over IP
VP Virtual Partitioning
VPI/VCI Virtual Path Identifier/
Virtual Channel Identifier
VPN Virtual Private Network
VQM
P
Peak Video Quality
Measurement
VR-JT Variable Rate - Jitter Tolerant

VR-RT Variable Rate - Real Time
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal
VSF Variable Spreading Factor
WAN Wide Area Network
W-CDMA Wideband Code Division
Multiple Access
WCI Wireless Channel Information
WFBoD Weighted Fair Bandwidth-on-
Demand
WFQ Weighted Fair Queuing
WiFi Wireless Fidelity
WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for
Microwave Access
WLAN Wireless LAN
WP Work Package
WRR Weighted Round Robin
XTP eXpress Transfer Protocol
Part I
Resource Management Framework for Satellite
Communications
1
INTRODUCTION TO SATELLITE
COMMUNICATIONS AND RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT
Editor: Giovanni Giambene
1
Contributors: Paolo Chini
1
, Giovanni Giambene
1

1
CNIT - University of Siena, Italy
1.1 Satellite communications
Multimedia communications have been widely supported by terrestrial infras-
tructures that employ optical fibers in backbone links to achieve huge capacity.
A technological alternative is represented by the use of satellites for providing
multimedia broadband services to fixed and mobile users in several scenarios
where terrestrial networks cannot be used or are congested.
Today, still a large number of persons living in remote areas or in
underdeveloped regions do not have a realistic perspective of achieving access
to high-speed Internet for many years. This problem constitutes a serious
obstacle to making the benefits of the Information Society available to all.
Such digital divide problem can be solved by satellite communications that
can easily reach the different regions on the Earth by providing everywhere
the same service types. Satellites are an important delivery platform of
information society services, such as interactive TV and mobile, high-speed
Internet access.
The most important reasons for the diffusion of satellite communications
can be summarized as follows [1]:
• Ubiquitous coverage: a single satellite can reach every potential user across
an entire continent. This is a very significant feature, especially in low
population density areas or over the see, where the realization of terrestrial
infrastructures would be not viable.
4 Giovanni Giambene
• Support to mobile users: a mobile user, which is situated in the satellite
coverage area, can easily communicate with other fixed or mobile users.
• Reduced cost : with satellite communications, cost is independent of the
distance. Moreover, satellite networks can easily cover a great part of the
Earth, thus reaching a very big potential market of customers. This is an
important opportunity in order to provide services at affordable costs.

• Varietyofconnectivity: it is possible to provide, in a simple and economic
way, point-to-multipoint and broadcast communications, without complex
multicast routing protocols (used in meshed terrestrial networks).
• Rapid deployment and easy management of the network: once a satellite is
launched it can immediately reach a high number of users. With satellites,
multimedia services can be provided to a wide multitude of users on broad
areas in a quicker way than using a terrestrial infrastructure.
• Bandwidth flexibility: it is possible to provide simplex, duplex, narrow-
band, symmetric and asymmetric bandwidth. Moreover, satellites can
allow a broadband access to end-users, thus representing a possible solution
to the “last mile” problem.
Very good books in the field of satellite communications, providing excel-
lent basis on this field are detailed in references [2]-[7].
Satellites are situated on suitable orbits around the Earth; on the basis of
their altitude, they can be classified into three main categories [1] (see Figure
1.1):
• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites at a height between 500 and 2,000 km
of altitude, i.e., below the Van Allen radiation belts. The Earth rotation
period is about 100 minutes and the satellite visibility time is around 15
minutes. These orbits can be polar or inclined.
• Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) may be circular or elliptical in shape at a
height between 8,000 and 12,000 km of altitude (between the two Van
Allen radiation belts). The rotation period is 5-12 hours and the satellite
visibility time is 2-4 hours.
• Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) is on the Earth’s equatorial plane
at a height of about 35,780 km with a rotation period of 24 hours and
a satellite visibility time of 24 hours. Many GEO satellites are allocated
on distinct slots on the equatorial plane orbit. The GEO satellite altitude
and the equatorial orbit have been determined to allow that GEO satellites
rotate at the same speed of the Earth. Hence, a GEO satellite remains in

a stationary position in the sky with respect to a fixed point on the Earth;
this is a desired feature for telecommunication purposes.
The balance between the gravity force versus the Earth and the centrifugal
one determines the satellite orbital speed. The three Kepler’s laws regulate
the satellite orbital motion.
A satellite communication system is formed by a number of satellites,
typically with the same orbit type (i.e., GEO, MEO or LEO) that cover a
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION TO SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS 5
Fig. 1.1: Description of satellite orbit types.
region or the whole Earth, thus forming a constellation.
Three GEO satellites are sufficient to cover all the Earth, excluding
Polar Regions. GEO satellites are well suited for global-coverage broad-
cast/multicast services and also for regional mobile and fixed communication
services. MEO and LEO satellites are non-stationary with respect to a user on
the Earth; hence, different satellites alternatively provide telecommunication
service coverage to a given area on the Earth. A global MEO system needs a
constellation of 10-12 satellites to assure a minimum elevation angle greater
than 30
◦
. LEO systems are characterized by constellations of more than 40
satellites with minimum elevation angle from 10
◦
to 40
◦
. A minimum elevation
angle of about 40
◦
(30
◦
) is recommended in the MEO (LEO) case in order

to have high link availability and acceptable delay variations. Moreover, LEO
and MEO satellite systems allow lower propagation delays and hence, lower
end-to-end latency in transferring data than GEO satellites.
GEO satellites are very big and can host a huge payload; high power
and large antennas are needed to assure a reliable link with Earth stations.
MEO satellites are smaller than GEO ones, so that launching operations are
less expensive. Finally, LEO satellites are smaller and less expensive to build
and to launch than GEO and MEO. Launchers allowing the transport of
multiple satellites permit to reduce the cost to have an operational LEO
satellite constellation.
The coverage area (footprint) of a satellite is divided into many cells (each
irradiated by an antenna spot-beam) in order to concentrate the energy on a
small area. Thus, it is also possible to shape the area served by a satellite on the
Earth. Moreover, multi-spot-beam coverage permits remarkable advantages,
like an efficient distribution of resources (e.g., reusing the same frequency)
or a lower cost of the Earth terminal equipment (e.g., antennas with small
6 Giovanni Giambene
size, since narrower surfaces are irradiated on the Earth, thus having a higher
power per surface unit).
Frequency bands (of interest for satellite communications) and related
designations are listed below [1],[3],[5]:
• L band from 1 to 2 GHz
• Sbandfrom2to4GHz
• Cbandfrom4to8GHz
• X band from 8 to 12 GHz
• Ku band from 12 to 18 GHz
• Kbandfrom18to26GHz
• Ka band from 26 to 40 GHz
• Vbandfrom40to75GHz.
These bands, composing the microwave spectrum, are actively used in

commercial and military satellite communications. The typical frequency band
allocations for satellite communications, adopted for different services, are
detailed below considering uplink/downlink cases:
• Fixed Satellite Service (FSS): 6/4 GHz (C band), 8/7 GHz (X band),
14/12-11 GHz (Ku band), 30/20 GHz (Ka band), 50/40 GHz (V band).
These services concern communications with fixed terrestrial terminals;
moreover, they are often broadband (typically in the range of 1-200
Mbit/s) due to both the available Radio Frequency (RF) bandwidth and
suitable link performance by using terrestrial fixed directional antennas.
Even if these services have been originally allocated to GEO satellites, also
non-GEO system allocations are possible.
• Broadcasting Satellite Service (BSS): 2/2.2 GHz (S band), 12 GHz (Ku
band), 2.6/2.5 GHz (S band). These services deal with direct broadband
broadcast transmissions through public operators. In particular, the Ku
band segment of BSS has been reserved for orbit positioning and dedicated
channels for individual nation’s employment. This service has been mainly
allocated to GEO satellites, but, like in the FSS case, also non-GEO
satellites are possible.
• Mobile Satellite Service: 1.6/1.5 GHz (L band), 30/20 GHz (Ka band).
These services are related to communications with mobile Earth stations
(e.g., ships, vehicles, aircrafts, and also persons). An example of mobile
satellite service is the Inmarsat system, operating in the L band with
GEO satellites for land-mobile services. These bands have been assigned
later also to non-GEO satellite networks.
Note that L, S and C bands are already congested; X band is typically
reserved for government use (military fixed communications); Ku band is
used by the majority of satellite digital broadcast systems as well as for
current Internet access systems. Finally, Ka band allows higher bandwidths
with smaller antennas (with respect to Ku band), but presents the problem