The University of British Columbia

There has been growing interest in broadband satellite networks lately. The unique characteristics of satellites such as long propagation delay, limited bandwidth to be shared among many users, and power limitations necessitate the use of appropriate medium access control (MAC) schemes for bandwidth assignment, particularly in applications with bursty traffic. This paper presents a study of MAC protocols in providing quality of service (QoS) in an ATM-based broadband satellite network, with individual users generating VBR traffic. We consider a geostationary satellite with onboard bandwidth assignment capability, and evaluate by simulations the performance of MAC schemes including fixed bandwidth assignment (FBA), demand assignment (DAMA), combined free/demand assignment (CFDAMA), and combined FBA/CFDAMA. The performance measures include delay, delay jitter, and throughput