Survey and evaluation of multiple access protocols in multimedia satellite networks

The characteristics of multiple-access protocols suitable for multimedia satellite environments are identified. The four major classes of multiple-access protocols in satellite communications are discussed. A short description of a typical protocol in each class is given. Major characteristics of multimedia traffic are listed, namely data, voice, and image. The criteria used to evaluate protocol performance, such as channel utilization, stability, complexity, fairness, and overhead, are discussed. No existing protocol generally satisfies the delay performance of all traffic types in multimedia environments, although adaptive protocols seem to show the most promise. Adaptive protocols can dynamically adjust according to the load fluctuation as well as to different mixtures of traffic information. A protocol that is suitable for multimedia transmissions and combines some advantages of different protocols is suggested