DVB and Internet via satellite - Definition and challenges

Two-way satellite access networks are of interest to many markets because they provide Internet access in rural areas, where a commercially viable broadband service is difficult to achieve, anytime, anywhere services, including wide-area coverage, and a wide range of broadcast services to millions of users.

Video content broadcasting and distribution services are one of the historical uses still deployed and provided by satellite systems [TE 7 538] and are based on the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) standard. Although numerous protocols are now available for satellite systems, such as for digital radio broadcasting [TE 6 154] , the historical broadcasting service has strongly influenced the standard solutions proposed for adding bidirectional capability to a broadcasting standard.

This article presents the adaptations made to the DVB standard to enable bidirectional services. Following a presentation of satellite Internet access systems, this article explains how the Digital Video Broadcasting – Satellite – Second Generation (DVB-S2) and Digital Video Broadcasting – Return Channel Satellite – Second Generation (DVB-RCS2) standards fit into the DVB family of standards. The main issues associated with the use of this standard are then presented.

As this standard is mainly used for Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) satellite systems, this article focuses mainly on this scenario. Due to the recent opening of the standard to cover Non-GeoStationnary Orbit (NGSO) scenarios, a section is dedicated to the impacts on the standard induced by the specificities of this scenario.