IP Networking over Next-Generation Satellite Systems

With the boom of Internet, IP-based applications, such as WWW and multimedia, have been an essential part of our life, and there is an ever-increasing demand for accessing high-speed Internet services anywhere and anytime. This trend unavo- ably has huge impact on the design of the next-generation satellite systems. In addition, with its broadcasting nature and global coverage, satellite systems also can play an important role in the next-generation Internet. For example, satellite systems can be a good driver for the deployment of IPv6 in the Internet and can provide a fast way to reach end-users because they do not rely on construction of a high-speed terrestrial networks. Thus satellites have the potential to bridge signi- cant gaps in global connectivity issues. To the naïve observer IP over satellite problem has been solved in the past and does not have any new challenges. However, recent satellite research in several EU projects show that there are still many unresolved issues; such as efficient depl- ment of IPv6 over satellites, interworking with other access technologies such as WLAN and WiMax, QoS provisioning over multi-segment networks (including satellites), security and On-Board Processing satellites usage for challenging applications such as IP multicast over satellites. The papers in this book were selected from the ‘International Workshop on IP Networking over Next-generation Satellite Systems (INNSS’07)’, which was held on July 5, 2007 in Budapest, Hungary as a part of the 16th IST Mobile and Wireless Communications Summit conference.

Dr. Linghang Fan is a research fellow of the Centre for Communication Systems Research in the University of Surrey, UK. He received his B. Eng. in Automatic Control from Southeast University, China, and his M. S. and Ph. D. in Telecommunications from the University of Bradford, UK. From 1998 to 2000, he was a researcher at the University of Bradford and worked on EU projects SINUS and SUMO. In 2003, he joined the University of Surrey and worked on EU projects STRIKE, Ambient Networks, MAESTRO and SATNEX. Currently, he is working on the EU projects SATSIX and ECGIN. He has published more than forty papers in international journals and conferences. His research interests include mobile/wireless communications, mobile Internet, and communication networking.

Dr. Haitham Cruickshank is a lecturer at the University of Surrey. He has worked there since January of 1996 on several European research projects in the ACTS, ESPRIT, TEN-TELECOM, and IST programs. His main research interests are network security, satellite network architectures, VoIP, and IP conferencing over satellites. He also teaches Data and Internet Networking and Satellite Communication courses at the University of Surrey. He is a member of the Satellite and Space Communications Committee of the IEEE ComSoc and a chartered engineer and corporate member of the IEEE in UK. He is an active member of the IETF and ETSI BSM working group in the security area.

Professor Zhili Sun is the Chair of Communication Networking in the Centre for Communication Systems Research, Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, UK. He received his B. S. in Mathematics from Nanjing University in China and Ph. D. in Computing Science from Lancaster University, UK. He was a Postdoctoral Researcher, from 1989 to 1993, in the Telecommunications Group, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London before coming to Surrey. He has been a principal investigator and technical coordinator in many European projects including the ESPRIT BISANTE, VIP-TEN, GEOCAST, ICEBERGS, SatLife, SATSIX, and Euro-NGI projects. He has also been a principal investigator in UK EPSRC, the European Space Agency (ESA) and industrial projects on IP multicast security. He has supervised many Ph. D. and research fellows. He published a book entitled Satellite Networking: Principles and Protocols (Wiley, 2005) and over 120 papers in International journals and conferences. He has also been a member of technical committees for international conferences and a member of reviewers for EU and UK research proposals.