Ground Station Preshaping for Satellite Data Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Satellite communication systems using non-geosynchronous orbits face significant challenges in maintaining assured quality of service due to propagation delays, traffic congestion, and dynamic network changes, making traditional traffic management techniques infeasible.
Innovation Solution
A system that applies traffic shaping techniques early in the network using a representation system to preshape downstream data, optimizing its delivery by aggregating, reordering, and pacing packets based on anticipated communication resource behavior, thereby reducing latency and complexity in satellite communication resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional traffic management techniques are used in satellite communication systems, then device complexity is reduced, but quality of service cannot be assured due to propagation delays and traffic congestion
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs traffic shaping in advance at the ground station before data is transmitted to the satellite. The ground station preshapes downstream data by aggregating, reordering, and pacing packets based on anticipated communication resource behavior, so that traffic management is completed before the data reaches the satellite, avoiding the need for complex real-time traffic management in the satellite system
Solution Approach 2:
The ground station acts as an intermediary between the data source and the satellite communication system. It performs all necessary traffic shaping and packet management operations before transmission, serving as a mediator that prepares data for efficient satellite transmission without requiring complex processing on the satellite itself
2Reliability
If traffic shaping is performed on the satellite, then quality of service is improved, but device complexity and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the traffic shaping function from the satellite and relocates it to the ground station. By removing complex traffic management operations from the satellite environment, the invention eliminates the need for energy-intensive processing on the satellite while maintaining quality of service through ground-based preshaping
3Reliability
If real-time traffic management is implemented in dynamic satellite networks, then quality of service is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs traffic shaping in advance at the ground station based on predicted communication resource behavior. By preshaping packets before transmission and using representation systems to model future network states, the invention eliminates the need for complex real-time traffic management in the dynamic satellite environment
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a representation system that creates a model or copy of the communication resources and their expected behavior. This representation allows the ground station to simulate and determine preshaped data based on anticipated network conditions, avoiding the need for complex real-time decision-making in the actual satellite system
Data Source
AI summary
Satellites provide communication between devices such as user terminals (UTs) and ground stations that are connected to points-of-presence (PoP) connected to other networks, such as the Internet. The PoP accepts downstream data addressed to the UT. A representation of the communication resources that are expected to be used to pass the downstream data from the PoP to the UT is determined and executed on one or more processors. The representations may include representations of traffic shapers, modems, and so forth at different points in the network. The representations may consider real-world and simulated feedback data. Within the representation, traffic shaping is employed to determine preshaped data that includes resource metadata designating the communication resources to be used. The preshaped data is passed along to the actual communication resources for subsequent delivery. The preshaping substantially improves performance of constrained communication resources. The preshaped data may be reshaped as real-world conditions change.