Satellite IP Network Emulator
Abstract
Satellite environment provides a whole new spectrum of challenges to communications and networking. The ability to study satellite network conditions in a reproducible and controlled manner is much sought-after. Investigations on network protocols, distributed applications and transmission medium in satellite networks via operational hardware-based testbed are costly and inflexible while results from simulators may be inaccurate. Hence, a satellite network emulator is proposed to overcome these obstacles as it has complementing properties of both hardware-based testbed and pure software-based simulators. This is a very useful and cost-effective approach to show the impact of satellite link delay and transmission errors on Internet services and applications. Operating at the Medium Access Control of Data Link Layer, the prototype emulator is able to emulate the propagation delay and bit errors of satellite channels. By producing precise satellite channel model, the emulator gives a reliable, adaptable and economical alternative for research on satellite communication networking. This project has developed a satellite link emulator tested on selected Internet applications with measured results.
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The Emulator Testbed
The mini testbed designed and setup to test the emulator named SANE (it's acronym for SAtellite IP Network Emulator). Here, you can see the middle laptop acting as a bridge to link 2 segments of a LAN (represented by the other 2 laptops by the side). A hub is added to give the possibility of expanding the testbed while the webcam is for the Netmeeting session during the performance evaluation process.
Last modified 07/09/2008 19:34
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