Summary
Convergence is one of the most important challenges for Next Generation Networks (NGN). This includes service convergence as well as fixed‐mobile convergence. The integration of satellite telecommunication system into NGN is a key to increasing the coverage of future networks and opening satellite access networks to a wider range of terrestrial solutions. Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) Return Channel via Satellite system (DVB‐RCS) and its evolution (DVB‐RCS2) are widely used European standards that are specified for broadband satellite systems using dynamic capacity assignment and multifrequency TDMA. This paper introduces a new QoS architecture derived from terrestrial IP Multimedia Subsystem solutions to provide advanced end‐to‐end QoS support, and defines cross‐layer optimization paths suited to the satellite context and in particular using DVB standards. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.