Broadband Satellite Multimedia

Satellites systems can be used to provide high quality interactive (two-way) multimedia communications, a service known as Broadband Satellite Multimedia (BSM). BSM systems will be able to provide broadband access to the internet, addressing a mass market and covering large regions. BSM systems are a major growth area in the industry and a priority within ETSI.

Broadband satellite access networks will complement wired and wireless access systems, delivering telecommunications services into and within both homes and business. The specifications produced will help ensure that the protocols developed for terrestrial Internet Protocol (IP) networks can be used over different families of satellite systems.

Most BSM systems are expected to utilize Ku (12-18 GHz) and Ka (27-40 GHz) -bands, and to be operated with fixed terminals (Fixed Satellite Service, FSS), but these are not specific requirements.

ETSI technical committee SES (Satellite Earth Stations and Systems) develops standards for broadband satellite multimedia (BSM) communications that are designed for use in IP-based satellite access networks. The standards are designed around a modular BSM architecture, which combines families of satellite-dependent transmission technologies with a set of common, satellite-independent IP interworking functions such as quality of service, addressing, multicasting and security. The resulting set of standards promote efficient methods of interworking IP traffic over any satellite network, while optimising the IP interoperability and compatibility between the satellite and the terrestrial networks.

BSM systems are described in ETSI Technical Specification TS 102 292 and Technical Report TR 101 984.