A multi-access scheme for voice/data integration in hybrid satellite/terrestrial packet radio networks

The paper examines protocols for voice/data integration in hybrid packet radio networks consisting of satellite and terrestrial components. The same protocols can be useful in the context of mixed-media packet radio networks employing HF ground radio links and EHF SATCOM radio links. As part of the integration protocol the ground subnetwork employs code-division multiple-access with movable boundary in the code domain to serve both the voice traffic and the retransmitted data traffic; on the satellite subnetwork framed ALOHA with movable boundary is used for both data and voice. A complete analysis of the channel-access protocols for both traffic types is provided based on a multi-dimensional Markovian model of the integrated voice/data system. The performance of the hybrid network is evaluated in terms of voice and data throughput, voice blocking probability, and data delay. It is observed that appropriate splitting of the retransmission traffic between the satellite and ground subnets may increase the overall data throughput when the voice load is high.<>