Multicasting Optimization Methods for Multi-Beam Satellite Systems Using Network Coding

In this paper we propose using Network Coding (NC) techniques to increase the capacity in the forward link of multi-beam satellite systems. In particular, we focus on upcoming multicast applications over satellite systems such as Digital Video Broadcasting over IP Networks oering TV services (DVB-IPTV). Our proposed coding scheme takes advantage of inter-beam interference, usually considered as a waste of capacity. Network coded packets are sent from the Gateway (GW) to the user terminals (UTs) through the latent multiple available routes from beam overlapping. We present a theoretical analysis of the upper-bound of the obtained capacity improvement assuming ideal error-free channel based on the equivalent network graphs. Further, we obtain from simulation the overall performance showing the additional improvement in reliability for users in the inter-beam interference areas. Theoretical analysis and simulation results over a reference 70 beam system show that multicast capacity can improve up to 90% in the inter-beam interference areas while overall reliability can improve up to 25% for admissible multicast transmission delay.