Variable Size Packets (VSP) for transport of IP datagrams over satellite links: Physical and access layer optimization

Abstract

This paper presents a novel approach called VSP (Variable Size Packets) for satellite access lower layers. The VSP solution aims at optimizing the transport of packets issued from network layers with highly variable sizes. Therefore, VSP relies on the definition of multiple encapsulation sizes associated to a waveform, and an access adapted to the transport of variable size packets. We recall the VSP concept, insisting on its impact at the physical and access layers, and present an efficient coding and modulation scheme for the VSP solution, resources allocation constraints and packet sizes and slot sizes definition strategies.