Abstract
It becomes more and more important to integrate satellites with transparent or on-board switching payload into future Global Broadband Network Infrastructure. This paper presents an overview of the important issues and the recent development of satellite systems for broadband communications. Particularly, it discusses the architecture and performance of broadband network interconnection and terminal access using ATM over satellite. It covers a range of topics including: the major issues on the role of satellites in broadband networks, satellite system structure and architecture with transparent and on-board switching payload, management and control over satellite, performance and Quality of Service (QoS) of ATM and IP over satellites, bandwidth resource management, future satellite systems and convergence of ATM and Internet.