BROAD-BAND ISLAND INTERCONNECTION VIA SATELLITE - PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS FOR THE RACE-II CATALYST PROJECT

The use of communication satellites as a possible way of offering broa dband island interconnectivity appears to be a very attractive option, as it will enable the provision of an all-digital, transparent servic e to a number of ATM islands spanning a wide area, accommodating effic iently a variety of traffic demands. The CATALYST Project (RACE II/R20 74) is an attempt to demonstrate the applicability and compatibility o f satellite technology with the terrestrial BISDN. In this paper we pr esent an overview of the project and focus on an initial study of the expected user performance through the CATALYST network. Our analysis i s based upon mathematical and simulation models and describes the end- system to end-system transfer delay for given message lengths. The pro tocol profiles assume a mix of Novell NetWare and Network File System client/server architectures, which are supported by either the IEEE 80 2.3/Ethernet or fibre distributed data interface LANs, which are thems elves linked via LAN/ATM/satellite interface units. Areas of further i nvestigation, and the implication of our analysis on the actual networ k architecture, are discussed.