Hybrid Terrestrial-Satellite DVB/IP Infrastructure in Overlay Constellations for Triple-Play Services Access in Rural Areas

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