%0 Journal Article
%T Hybrid Terrestrial-Satellite DVB/IP Infrastructure in Overlay Constellations for Triple-Play Services Access in Rural Areas
%A E. Pallis
%A D. Negru
%A A. Bourdena
%J International Journal of Digital Multimedia Broadcasting
%D 2010
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2010/913421
%X This paper discusses the convergence of digital broadcasting and Internet technologies, by elaborating on the design, implementation, and performance evaluation of a hybrid terrestrial/satellite networking infrastructure, enabling triple-play services access in rural areas. At local/district level, the paper proposes the exploitation of DVB-T platforms in regenerative configurations for creating terrestrial DVB/IP backhaul between the core backbone (in urban areas) and a number of intermediate communication nodes distributed within the DVB-T broadcasting footprint (in rural areas). In this way, triple play services that are available at the core backbone, are transferred via the regenerative DVB-T/IP backhaul to the entire district and can be accessed by rural users via the corresponding intermediate node. On the other hand, at regional/national level, the paper proposes the exploitation of a satellite interactive digital video broadcasting platform (DVB S2/RCS) as an overlay network that interconnects the regenerative DVB-T/IP platforms, as well as individual users, and services providers, to each other. Performance of the proposed hybrid terrestrial/satellite networking environment is validated through experimental tests that were conducted under real transmission/reception conditions (for the terrestrial segment) and via simulation experiments (for the satellite segment) at a prototype network infrastructure. 1. Introduction Triple-play services provision depends not only on the access network that is usually considered as the last mile network, but also on the connection from the local ¡°point of presence¡± (e.g., local exchange building) to the core high-capacity backbone network. This connection, which is known as ¡°backhaul¡±, or the ¡°middle mile¡± network, constitutes a significant issue for accessing triple-play services especially in dispersed, rural, and less developed areas, that is, those that are far away from the high-capacity core network. The backhaul connection to the nearest available main network node for triple-play services provision can be currently addressed by a variety of proprietary technologies, such as fibre optical, satellite, and microwave radio links [1, 2], the cost of which is proportionally increased to the remoteness, while decreasing as the number of customers is escalated. As a result, and especially in the case of highly remote/rural communities, and/or low population areas, these technological solutions prove to be unprofitable for the services/network provider, and therefore deployment of backhaul for triple-play
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijdmb/2010/913421/