Challenges and opportunities on testing lte backhaul via satellite

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL

Embratel Star One

II International Workshop on Challenges and Trends on Broadband Wireless Mobile Access Networks – Beyond LTE-A

Guilherme Marques Mattos

Challenges and Opportunities on Testing LTE Backhaul via Satellite

CPqD, Campinas

05-06 de Novembro de 2014

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Contents

1. Embratel Star One

2. Today and Future Satellites fleet

3. Combining advantages of LTE + Satellite

4. Motivations to test LTE via satellite

5. Simulation laboratory setup

6. Real scenarios tested

7. Comparative measurements

8. Results and New Challenges

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Embratel Star One

• Star One is 100% owned by Embratel, an America Movil Company

• Largest Regional Satellite Operator in Latin America

• 7 satellites fleet + 2 new under construction

• U$800 million invested on Star One C1, C2 and C3 construction

• U$720 million invested on Star One C4 and D1 construction

• Around 200 brazilian engineers and technicians

• More than 30 years of satellite experience

• Hot position with more than 20 million dishes

• First in the world to obtain ISO 9001 Certificate on Satellite Control Services

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Embratel Star One

Star One delivers satellital infrastructure to different applications like TV, broadband networks and telephony, covering Brazil, South, Central and North America.

GUARATIBA-RJ

Control and Operation Center and Claro TV

uplink (backup)

TANGUÁ-RJ

Marketing and Support areas (Embratel),

Sales, Engineering and Regulatory (Star One)

DOWNTOWN-RJ

Control and Operation Center and Claro TV

uplink (main)

Control Centers 100% in Brazil


Four Control Centers in Guaratiba, RJ

• Spacial Segment Control Center - current 6 satellites (B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3) - next 2 satellites (C4, D1)

• Claro hdtv Control Center - monitoring more than 170 channels (HD, SD, radio) - complex with 8 reception antennas - uplink control and monitoring

• Communications Control Center - spectrum monitoring - analysis of interferences

• Broadband Control Center - corporate networks operation - multiple networks of voice, data and video - different manufacturers and technologies

Embratel Star One

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Today and Future Satellites fleet

Star One specified, contracted and launched 9 geostationary communication satellites with success.

Co

ntr

ol C

en

ter

GU

AR

AT

IBA

Star One C3

C, Ku

Bands

C, Ku

Bands

75º W 70º W

Star One C2

65º W Star One C1

C, Ku

Bands

Ku Band (GHz): 13,75 - 14,50 (Up) / 10,95 - 12,20 (Dw)

3rd gen: C1, C2, C3

1st gen: A1, A2

C Band (GHz): 5,850 - 6,425 (Up) / 3,625 - 4,200 (Dw)

C Band C Band

(Inclined Orbit)

Brasilsat B3

84º W Brasilsat B2

63º W Brasilsat B4

92º W

C Band

(Inclined Orbit)

2nd gen: B1, B2, B3, B4

Star One D1

C, Ku, Ka

Under construction

Forecast 1Q / 2016

Ka Band (GHz): 27,00 - 30,00 (Up) / 17,70 - 20,20 (Dw)

4th gen: D1

Star One C4

Ku

Under construction

Forecast 2Q / 2015

Co-location

C2-C4

, C4

C Band

(SES NSS-10)

Star One C12 37,5º W

, C12


Satellite characteristics:

• Manufacturer: Space Systems Loral (SSL)

• Plataform: SSL 1300

• Total Mass: around 5680 Kg

• Contractual Life: 15 years

• Orbital Position: 70°W

• Capacity: 48 transponders in Ku Band

Launch:

• Forecast: 2Q/2015

• Launcher Vehicle: Ariane 5

• Launch Base: Kourou Space Center – French Guyana

Satellite Star One C4

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Satellite Star One C4 - Coverages

BRAK Brazil Ku Band - DTH - VSAT - SNG

WLAK West of Latin America Ku Band - DTH - VSAT

COMK CONUS and Mexico Ku Band - VSAT


Satellite characteristics:

• Contractual Life: 15 years

• Orbital Position: 84°W

• 3 Payloads:

28 transponders in C Band 24 transponders in Ku Band 18 transponders in Ka Band

• Capacity in Ka Band:

Spot beams covering Brazil territory Around 20Gbps data traffic Two geographical diversity gateways in Brazil

– Gateway South: Guaratiba (Main) Tanguá (Diversity) – Gateway North: under evaluation

Launch:

• Forecast: 1Q/2016

• Launcher Vehicle: Ariane 5

• Launch Base: Kourou Space Center – French Guyana

Satellite Star One D1

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Satellite Star One D1 - Coverages

WSAK West of South America Ku Band - VSAT

MCAK Mexico and Central America Ku Band - VSAT

BSAC Brazil and South America C Band - Video - Telephony - Cellular Backhaul - VSAT

BRAK Brazil Ku Band - VSAT

BBKA Brazil Beams Ka Band - Cellular Backhaul - Video - Broadband

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Combining Advantages of LTE + Satellite

• Continental or spot beams (cells) coverages

• Fast and easy implementation on rural and remote areas

• Cost of remote site is lower than fiber and radio

• Works with poin-to-point dedicated or star shared mode

simetric 128Kbps up to 155Mbps (dedicated)

(as)simetric up to 100Mbps/8Mbps (shared)

• Small antennas (0,60m up to 3,6m) on remote sites

depending on applications, mode, frequency band

• Delay and jitter compensations with TCP and HTTP

acceleration

• Support to data, voice, VoIP, video, multicast, EFT, etc

• Backhauling independent of terrestrial facilities and

mobile radio spectrum

Satellite Advantages LTE Advantages

• All IP mobile network

• Support to data, voice, VoIP, video, etc

• Higher rates for mobile applications

• Support high mobility

• Lower cost per bit

• Spectrum flexibility (450MHz, 700MHz, 2.5GHz, etc)

• New OFDM (Dw) and SC-FDMA (Up) techniques

• Improved spectral efficiency

• Reduced delay compared with past generations 2G, 3G

• High degree of flexibility and scenarios applications

• Effective QoS mechanisms

• World wide standard acceptance

• Well defined roadmap

• Helping mobile operator to meet regulatory obligations • Sites can switchover between dedicated and shared mode

depending on traffic demand

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Motivations to test LTE via satellite

• Getting the first impression in terms of performance when combining both technologies (LTE + Satellite);

• Configuring and optimizing LTE temporizations and protocols to support geostationary communication satellite delays;

• Identifying which and how the parameters on satellite network must be ajusted to provide a good performance to the solution;

• Finding the best elements that fit to the solution in order to provide the best results;

• Taking advantage of satellites facilities like continental coverage and fast implementation;

• Finding alternatives to deliver new services at remote sites with 4G networks in order to meet ANATEL obligations and national coverage objectives, aiming at:

– Searching for service availability in areas with no other terrestrial alternative – Offering competitive alternative in areas served by only one service provider

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Simulation laboratory setup

Satellite dedicated link delay simulation laboratory setup

SATELLITE

DELAY HUB

ENB UE

VSAT

EPC INTERNET

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Real scenarios tested

Compact EPC at VSAT side

Scenario 1

Compact EPC at HUB side

Scenario 2

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Scenario 1 – Compact EPC at VSAT side

Satellite Path

Satellite + LTE Path

VSAT User Terminal Downlink: DVB-S2 Uplink: DVB-RCS


VSAT User Terminal Downlink: DVB-S2 Uplink: DVB-RCS

Scenario 2 – Compact EPC at HUB side

Satellite Path

Satellite + LTE Path

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Network Test Setup

Star One HUB - Guaratiba Site

LTE Terminal

(UE)

eNodeB

Compact

EPC

Star One VSAT - CPqD Site

VSAT

Guaratiba Station

Compact

EPC

Satellite

Platform

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Comparative Measurements

1

1 1 1

2

2

2 2

• Measurement results obtained in operational satellite network

• Configurations: 1 (Compact EPC at VSAT side) 2 (Compact EPC at HUB side)

• Performance improvement with compact EPC at VSAT side vs EPC at HUB side: 5% for throughput download 36% for throughput upload 8% for RTT measured at VSAT side 3% for RTT measured at HUB side

Throughput RTT

Download Upload Download Upload

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Results and New Challenges

• Good user experience for voice service for both uplink and downlink;

• Best MOS 4.4 measured with PESQ tool and EPC at VSAT side;

• Performance improvement with compact EPC at VSAT side vs EPC at HUB side;

• Optimized LTE integration with satellite backhaul resulting mean RTT less than 650 ms as expected;

• Sustainable download and upload data rates (average 50%, peak 80%) compatible with satellite shared

channel capacity (Maximum: 8 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload);

• LTE plus satellite system architecture integration evaluation (compact centralized/decentralized EPC)

Results

New Challenges

• Improving the acceleration of traffic tunneled in GTP;

• Testing a third scenario with Split-EPC (control plane at VSAT side and user plane at HUB side);

• Looking forward to solutions with Ka Band satellites where it is possible to obtain even higher rates and

lower costs per Mbps;

• E2E QoS optimization for new applications such as M2M and Smart Grid

STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL Thanks

Guilherme Marques Mattos Satellite Engineering Master Specialist

[email protected]

+55 21 (21) 2121-8561

Challenges and opportunities on testing lte backhaul via satellite

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