In the frame of SatNEx III – COO1 project, SMG contributes to address the most representative achievements related to DTN architecture in terms of standardisation activities, publications and project.

The main conclusion has been that standardisation activity is very mature for the essentials of the architecture and the protocol specification, whereas multicast and security require some more effort. In particular the former calls for further studies actually aimed at identifying the requirements and the scenarios for such applications. Accordingly, possible extensions to the protocols could be drawn.

In this framework, SMG was in charge to discusse a number of satellite scenarios affected by potential channel disruptions, real or simply experienced at the higher protocol layers. The Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) paradigm has been then presented as a very promising architectural solution to deal with disruptions. Target scenarios span from GEO systems with fixed users to LEO constellations, including some preliminary considerations on HEO systems. Selected study cases envisage currently deployed systems with the aim to demonstrate how DTN adoption can lead short-term performance improvements with a negligible impact on casts and co-existing with usual TCP/IP applications.

Performance analysis relies on three different tools: a satellite emulator, the Satellite ToolKit (STK) and the Network Simulator Ns-2, depending on the analysis target.