SAT04-1: Satellite vs. Cellular Broadcasting : A Multi-Criteria Comparison

Traditional voice and video-oriented networks such as the cellular and satellite networks are being increasingly used to carry data traffic. We endeavor to compare the downlink broadcast performance of the two architectures against each other on the basis of energy consumption, end-to-end delay and maximum stable throughput. The architectures are modelled as systems of Geo/G/1 queues. Queuing theory arguments and then sample-path based comparisons are used to show that the satellite architecture while being more energy-efficient has a higher delay and a lower maximum throughput than the cellular architecture.