5.2: Satellite as a Pipeline
Ka-band and Ku-band satellite systems are intended for use by a single home or office, but commercial-grade satellite systems can be used as a backhaul for a small community of users. Commercial-grade satellite can offer speeds of several megabits per second up and down, usually for several thousands of dollars per month and a hardware investment of several thousand dollars. The most important feature of commercial-grade satellite Internet systems is that they guarantee a very high quality of service level [68]. By giving subscribers a dedicated IP address and priority access to a chunk of dedicated bandwidth on a geostationary satellite, these services attain a level of reliability and predictability that exceeds consumer-grade Ka-band and Ku-band services. While it may be reliable, the throughput may not be enough to allow for simultaneous access by several users. To solve this problem, one innovative solution may be to proxy all Internet traffic through a caching server. A cache server will save a local copy of recently downloaded files and web sites so that subsequent access to that file or web site by another computer on the network will not have to download it again from the Internet. The cache is refreshed occasionally to make sure the saved files and web sites aren't outdated. This can potentially save a lot of satellite bandwidth if users on the network tend to access a lot of the same Internet resources. A satellite pipeline could be combined with a Canopy or WiMAX system to serve broadband Internet service to homes and businesses in a remote area. Of course, live Internet traffic like videoconferencing and VoIP can't be cached, so latency is still a problem even when a cache server is used.
Given the significant cost and limited capacity of a satellite backhaul with terrestrial distribution, this kind of deployment is not likely to be economically feasible. Only large companies would likely need access to high-capacity commercial satellite systems. Since the inexpensive Ka-band satellite broadband technology was deployed in the past year, it would be more affordable for individual homes and businesses to just purchase and operate their own Ka-band systems rather than using a terrestrially-distributed satellite-backhaul network.
© Jake Cormier, 2006 [jake (at) stormcloudstudios.com]
Completed as a partial requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Science (specialized)
Department of Computer Science :: Algoma University College :: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario :: Spring 2006