Providing Integrated Continuous Voice/Data Services to Mobile Terminals through a Power-Limited Satellite Transponder

Abstract

In the very near future, Australia plans to provide integrated voice-data communication services to mobiles through its MOBILESAT system. An important component of these services would be the ability to support continuous voice and data calls between mobiles and certain fixed stations. In the context of this system, this paper describes a protocol for these services and analyzes them for the realistic situation where the satellite transponder is power-limited. Using the bursty nature of voice, an “over-assignment” strategy is proposed to efficiently utilize the satellite's resources. The problems inherent in this basic scheme are described and some simple control strategies are proposed which may be used to avoid these in an actual system.

Indexing terms:

• Mobile satellite network
• Integrated voice/data services MSAT
• Power limited voice/data multiplexing