Toward Traffic Offload in Converged Satellite and Terrestrial Networks

Abstract

Whilst broadband Internet connectivity has become highly important, providing broadband connectivity nonetheless remains a considerable challenge, particularly in rural and remote regions where the deployment of optical fibers faces economical obstacles. A promising option to address this issue is that of the most recent satellite systems, capable of providing high capacities virtually everywhere. However, compared to most terrestrial systems, satellite networks have very different link and, more importantly, latency characteristics, which often render them only barely usable for delay intolerant traffic. Thus, convergence of terrestrial and satellite networks is required, so that only certain traffic flows can be offloaded onto a supplemental satellite connection. In this work, we propose a network architecture relying on modern Software Defined Network (SDN) concepts, which enable dynamic traffic offloading in a converged satellite and terrestrial network, in order to relieve the load in a narrowband terrestrial network. We show that with limited overhead, a traffic can be offloaded, leading to an increase in the user's Quality-of-Experience (QoE).

Point-to-Point Communication in Integrated Satellite-Aerial 6G Networks: State-of-the-Art and Future Challenges

“…In contrast, eMBB data is offloaded to the satellites as eMBB traffic does not have always a stringent delay requirement. Moreover, intelligent traffic offloading in integrated spatial-terrestrial networks can be enabled using SDN technology that can separate the data and network plans [171]. Also, based on link characteristics, such as cost, reliability, and capacity, multiple options can offload the data.…”

Hybrid Satellite–Terrestrial Networks toward 6G: Key Technologies and Open Issues

“…By performing network slicing for different segments, service continuality and QoS requirements for vehicles with high mobility were guaranteed. In [ 187 ], the traffic offloading problem for the integrated satellite–terrestrial network was investigated by relying on the SDR architecture. A detailed offloading scheme was proposed with extra offloading functions added to the control plane, which were specialized for offloading decisions, execution, and monitoring.…”

5G Embraces Satellites for 6G Ubiquitous IoT: Basic Models for Integrated Satellite Terrestrial Networks

“…Bertaux et al pointed out that programmability, openness, and virtualization are new trends for HSTNs [111]. With this consensus, Boero et al estimated the end-to-end delay [112], Lin et al studied virtual spectrum allocation techniques [113] and Niephaus et al investigated the dynamic traffic offloading [114] for SDN-based HSTNs. Zhang et al implemented MEC techniques in HSTNs and investigated a task offloading model to improve the QoS of mobile users [115].…”