BATS · Broadband Access via Integrated Terrestrial & Satellite Systems

BATS addresses the integrated delivery of BroadBand (BB) future Internet services for European coverage according to the EC Digital Agenda objective to reliably deliver >30Mbps to 100% of European households by 2020. In order to accommodate the 'unserved' and 'underserved' areas of Europe, an ultra high speed satellite system is researched that provides order of magnitude cost/bit reductions and solutions to existing market barriers of bandwidth and latency limitations. This builds on terabit/s satellite studies conducted by the European Space Agency and extends them into an overall network and service delivery concept.<br/>A novel architecture is proposed which combines satellite and terrestrial service delivery via an Intelligent User Gateway (IUG), dynamically routing each traffic flow according to its service needs through the most appropriate delivery mechanism to optimise the Quality of Experience (QoE). The integration complies with emerging home network environment standards and provides resilience and reliability of service provision to the users by bonding diverse access networks. To cope with such scenario, BATS will also provide a unified network management framework.<br/>The BATS new service paradigm focuses on user QoE and is not constrained by a specific delivery mechanism. The wide range of stakeholders involved leads to a new business model in which the benefits to all are evaluated.<br/>Evaluation of the concept takes place via laboratory emulation with controlled objective and subjective testing and via field trials using prototype IUGs and capacity on in-orbit satellites to assess real user experiences.<br/>BATS provides a unique opportunity for the European ICT and satellite industries to take a lead in this novel integrated system which will have a worldwide market. Contributions to standardisation groups will foster adoption of the concept and assist supporting the European Mandate 496 'To Develop Standardisation Regarding the Space Industry'.