MIT Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science

Linking Satellite and Terrestrial Networks for Digital

John Baras
University of Maryland; Visiting MIT, EECS & LIDS

Monday, February 23, 1998
4:00 PM (refreshments 3:45)
Edgerton Hall, Room 34-101
EECS Colloquium

Abstract

The architecture of telecommunication networks is changing rapidly, due to the explosive growth of broadband satellite and terrestrial wireless networks and the dramatic growth of the Internet and the associated demand for broadband data services.

I will describe current and future heterogeneous internetwork architectures involving satellites, terrestrial wireless and terrestrial wireline networks, and their implications for access, deployment, performance, operations and management of broadband multimedia services, and present a set of technical challenges that such internetworks pose.

I will present recent results we have obtained in three specific technical areas associated with broadband asymmetric networks:

1. Fast Internet services using a telephone line in and a Direct Broadcast satellite out: the basic scheme, multicasting, its performance and cost today (500 kbps return), useful modifications and challenges for the future.
2. The control and operation of such fast asymmetric Internet services: analytical schemes for designing scheduling systems and for evaluating maximum load and performance.
3. Topics in the distribution of information over such asymmetric broadband networks: (1) Scheduling broadcast and multicast "push" information as well as interactive "pull" information; (2) An innovative adaptive broadcast scheme and its performance; (3) An innovative three tier database architecture for smart prefetching and distributed caching to increase speed of access.

Finally I will present some challenges and research problems, in the areas of: integrated network management, network engineering and new hardware and device needs including communication satellite design and architecture. Throughout the talk I will emphasize the relation of these technical topics and results to ubiquitous digital connectivity and higher performance information infrastructures.