OPTIMIZED TRANSMISSION TECHNIQUES FOR SATCOM UNICAST INTERACTIVE TRAFFIC – EXPRO PLUS
29, June 2015

ESA Open Invitation To Tender AO8332
Open Date: 22/06/2015
Closing Date: 02/10/2015

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 15.1ET.13
Prog. Ref.: TRP
Budget Ref.: E/0901-01 – TRP
Special Prov.: BE+DK+FR+DE+IT+NL+ES+SE+CH+GB+IE+AT+NO+FI+PT+GR+LU+CZ+RO+PL
Tender Type: C
Price Range: 200-500 KEURO
Establishment: ESTEC
Directorate: Directorate of Technical & Quality Manag
Department: Electrical Engineering Department
Division: RF Payload Systems Division
Contract Officer: Erkelens-Sickinger, Franziska
Last Update Date: 22/06/2015
Update Reason: Tender issue

The forward link air interface that is currently used in satellite broadband interactive networks (DVB-S2) has been originally designed to optimize the performance of broadcast systems. Even the TM-S2 standardization effort is using the same principle to derive the DVB-Sx evolution. Indeed, the DTH applications represent by far the most commercially successful source of revenues for DVB-S2-based systems. Some solutions adopted for DVB-S2 are however, sub-optimal for unicast traffic. For example, the grouping of users within long codewords has the consequences that efficient co-channel interference mitigation techniques (precoding as in LTE) can be hardly applied and that the user latency as well as the scheduler efficiency are not optimized. For distributed Multi User Detection also a constant FEC block size will ease its implementation. In addition, the variable frame length size on the channel does not lead to an efficient application of the ACM (Adaptive Channel and Modulation) technique. Finally, the architecture of the pilot symbols (distribution and modulation) brings important limitations to the performance of techniques dealing with interference management in multi-spot beam systems. Other limitations can also be identified. On the other hand, it has been shown that the only way to significantly improve (more that 100% gains) the capacity of multi-spot beam systems is to design the network for higher frequency re-use and to limit the impact of co-channel interference by means of advanced techniques like precoding combined with an efficient ACM. Thisactivity will design a new FW link air interface for broadband satellite systems, with the focus being the maximization of the capacity next generation broadband networks, while removing any compatibility constraints with legacy broadcast systems. The design willthen be tested with physical layer and system simulations thus proving its performance within some reference missions. ProcurementPolicy: C(1) = Activity restricted to non-prime contractors (incl. SMEs). For additional information please go to EMITS news “Industrial Policy measures for non-primes, SMEs and R&D entities in ESA programmes”.

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