This paper presents the Intelligent Connectivity Platform (ICP) - an intent-based orchestration system for connectivity services in rural networks. The ICP uses a hybrid approach: it combines semantic analysis (via a Large Language Model) with KPI-based filtering to identify the most suitable connectivity solution for a given user request. The platform triggers network slice selection and resource reservation through standardised TM Forum Open APIs and interfaces seamlessly with existing service orchestrators. We validate the ICP in the framework of the Horizon Europe COMMECT project, with a real deployment at the Telenor Lab, where it translates user intents into standardscompliant 5 G network services. This demonstration shows that ICP can automate service provisioning, improve resource allocation, and adapt to future network advancements.

Although the deployment of 5G networks in urban environments is currently underway, rural areas suffer from cellular coverage limitations due to the poor deployment of 5G infrastructure. This fact directly affects use cases related to technology development in rural communities. As a result, key performance indicators may not meet minimums to satisfy a certain service, such as connectivity for livestock transport. As a strategy to improve the reliability of communications, the use of packet duplication through several cellular networks is proposed in order to increase robustness in areas with coverage issues. This study, which emulates livestock transport conditions through an experimental drive test across Denmark and Germany, demonstrates how packet duplication improves reliability for 4G/5G networks concerning latency Round-Trip Time and DL/UL throughput, on routes driven by livestock transport trucks.

Routing in nanosatellites swarms presents distinct challenges, including variable node availability, constrained bandwidth, and dynamic topology. Strategies like delay-tolerant networking (DTN) can be advantageous, as they adapt to intermittent connectivity by storing and forwarding data when connections are established. Moreover, geographic routing protocols that exploit satellite positions can improve efficiency, while machine learning approaches may optimize routing decisions based on changing network conditions. What about hybrid approaches that may combine some of these methods? Basically, the crucial question is where to begin. The primary challenge for nanosatellites network designers is to determine which routing strategies to test prior to deployment. Given the vast number of existing routing protocols, testing all of them is not possible. This problem motivates the present study, which share the authors' experiences on selecting the most suitable routing algorithms for a given nanosatellites swarm. In particular, the study reports how the use of graph theory metrics helps in restricting the set of routing algorithms to be considered for network characterization and protocol selection.

Ensuring reliable connectivity in rural areas remains a challenge, especially for mobile applications requiring real-time data exchange. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of multi-connectivity solutions combining terrestrial and satellite networks to improve communication reliability for livestock transport trucks in Europe, addressing both short-term and mid-term requirements. We conducted real-world mobility experiments using vehicles equipped with narrowband satellite access for tracking needs, alongside broadband cellular (4G/5G) and satellite connectivity, simultaneously transmitting duplicated traffic to ensure seamless access for future services. Our results show that satellite-assisted duplication significantly reduces packet loss in scenarios where cellular networks are unreliable. Additionally, we analyze end-to-end latency, packet arrival times, and derive Gilbert-Elliott model parameters from real-world measurements. We conclude that while the duplication approach is highly viable, it comes with trade-offs, including increased bandwidth consumption and the need for improved congestion control mechanisms.

This paper examines the COMMECT project's initiatives to overcome the digital divide in rural areas through the deployment of integrated terrestrial (cellular XG, public and private 5G networks, Internet of Things, NB-IoT, LoRa, etc.) and Non-Terrestrial (satellites, drones) Networks. The project has established five user-centric Living Labs across Europe, focused on viticulture (Luxembourg), forestry (Norway), livestock transport (Denmark), olive farming (Turkiye), and sustainable agriculture (Serbia). To facilitate connectivity decision-making, the project is developing a Decision-Making Support Tool (DST), which leverages Large Language Models (LLMs) to provide tailored connectivity recommendations. This paper outlines the project's approach, the integrated networks deployed in the Living Labs, and the DST's functionalities and future developments.

The importance of stored streaming video for current Internet traffic is undeniable, even in the context of satellite communications (SATCOM). Therefore, Internet service providers aim to deliver the highest quality of experience to their end users, although they are not able to assess it directly. Some machine learning techniques proposed in the literature have demonstrated their ability to predict the quality of experience based on traffic data analysis. However, these models cannot be directly applied in a SATCOM context without considering the specific characteristics of satellite links. Furthermore, some of them may not be suitable for real-time use. In this study, we monitored over 2,400 YouTube video sessions over an emulated satellite network to develop models capable of predicting the initial delay, played resolution, and stalling events. The collected dataset is available as an open source to the research community. The primary objective of this research is to provide a functional model for real-time applications. To achieve this, we reduced the required feature set to minimize computation time and resources, enabling a practical real-time implementation of the model while assessing its feasibility. We show that we successfully achieved a substantial reduction in the number of features while also observing a relative improvement in prediction. Our results yield prediction performance comparable to that of other studies on terrestrial networks. Using the reduced feature set, we present a real-time implementation and confirm the real-time viability of our work.

We investigate the feasibility of using machine learning methods for predicting the Quality of Experience (QoE) of end users in the context of video streaming over satellite networks. To achieve this, we analyzed QoE and traffic data from 2,400 YouTube video sessions over emulated geosynchronous (GSO) satellite links. The objective is to determine whether existing learning methods, originally developed for wired or mobile networks, can be adapted to accurately predict key QoE factors over SATCOM. We particularly investigate a specific existing framework, which achieves outstanding performance in predicting resolution and initial delay. However, we point out some discrepancies in their hypothesis, leading to optimistic forecasting results. We then refine their methodology to ensure a complete independence between training and test datasets, leading to a fairer QoE video streaming forecast over satellite networks.

This article proposes a discussion on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the deployment of QUIC end-to-end from a satellite-operator point-of-view. The deployment of QUIC is an opportunity for improving the quality of experience when exploiting satellite broadband accesses. Indeed, the fast establishment of secured connections reduces the short files transmission time. Moreover, removing transport layer performance enhancing proxies reduces the cost of network infrastructures and improves the integration of satellite systems. However, the congestion and flow controls at end points are not always suitable for satellite communications due to the intrinsic high bandwidth-delay product. Further acceptance of QUIC in satellite systems would be guaranteed if its performance in specific use-cases is increased. We propose a running code for an IETF document, and based on an emulated platform and on open-source software, this paper proposes values of performance metrics just as one piece of the puzzle. The final performance objective requires consensus among the different actors. The objective should be challenging enough for satellite operators to allow QUIC traffic but reasonable enough to keep QUIC deployable on the Internet.

This paper assesses the benefits of using Sliding Windows Forward error codes (SWF) to protect transport protocol sessions over a SATCOM link within IP tunnels. We consider two commonly deployed protocols and congestion control algorithms : TCP/CUBIC, currently deployed by default inside the most recent OS kernels, and QUIC/BBR implementation named Picoquic. Our objective is to evaluate the performance of these protocols in challenging SATCOM environments and to assess if SWF can contribute to improve their performance. We consider two different scenarios based on real loss mobility patterns played over the OpenSAND satellite emulator. Results show that using SWF tunnels can hide losses to a CUBIC server: this reduces the download time of 20MB by more than 90 %. However, the main finding is that SWF does not contribute to the download time reduction for BBR, making its deployment ineffective. We conclude that the use of BBR over SATCOM could be an efficient way to perform communications over unreliable links, resulting from a high mobility context for instance, considering that BBR flows are managed by an adequate QoS allocation.

Backhauling services through satellite systems have doubled between 2012 and 2018. There is an increasing demand for this service for which satellite systems typically allocate a fixed resource. This solution may not help in optimizing the usage of the scarce satellite resource. This study measures the relevance of using dynamic resource allocation mechanisms for backhaul services through satellite systems. The satellite system is emulated with OpenSAND, the LTE system with Amarisoft and the experiments are orchestrated by OpenBACH. We compare the relevance of applying TCP PEP mechanisms and dynamic resource allocations for different traffic services by measuring the QoE for web browsing, data transfer and VoIP applications. The main conclusions are the following. When the system is congested, PEP and layer-2 access mechanisms do not provide significant improvements. When the system is not congested, data transfer can be greatly improved through protocols and channel access mechanism optimization. Tuning the Constant Rate Assignment can help in reducing the cost of the resource and provide QoE improvements when the network is not loaded.

The first version of QUIC has recently been standardized by the IETF. The framework of QUIC enables the proposition, negociation and exploitation of extensions to adapt some of its mechanisms. As one example, the DATAGRAM extension enables the unreliable transmission of data. The BDP FRAME extension is a method that can improve traffic delivery by allowing a QUIC connection to remember the knowledge of path characteristics and exploit them when resuming a session. This technical report presents the rationale behind fast convergence in SATCOM systems and evaluate the BDP FRAME extension in emulated and live environments.

VPN are a secured tunnel that help service providers to exchange data over non-secured networks. There is a large variety of VPN solutions that have variable deployment impacts on the target architecture as well as performance limitations or opportunities. This technical report compares Wireguard and OpenVPN for various SATCOM deployment scenarios and topologies.

Offering seamless connectivity for Next-Generation Internet (NGI) services has become a widespread concern to achieve global sustainability goals. In this position paper, we focus on the design of a smart connectivity platform that can extend its capabilities beyond the boundaries of what today’s 5G architecture can support. The proposed platform encompasses and integrates a wide range of technologies, spanning from Non-Terrestrial Networks, NTNs (GEO/LEO satellites, and airborne) to terrestrial cellular 5G and long-range low-power Internet of Things (IoT) networks. We enhance 5G technology with novel network architectures and network intelligence to meet coverage and capacity requirements; and by strengthening infrastructure management and control components with autonomous capabilities to decouple operational costs from growth in network traffic, cloud computing, and IoT. Finally, we discuss the technical, commercial and market challenges that need to be overcome before the commercial deployment of the designed platform becomes reality.

A high throughput does not necessarily translate to a good Quality of Experience, especially in a satellite context. The round trip time, for instance, also has a tremendous impact on the reactivity of applications and thus on the Quality of Experience. Content delivery networks are massively used for over-the-top services in terrestrial network: They reduce the load of network and the delay as they draw the content closer to the end user. In a satellite system, the content delivery network presents a good opportunity for enhancing the end users' Quality of Experience and can change the conventional use of performance-enhancing proxies. This paper investigates the satellite as access link for home networks or a backhaul link for small cells for a 5G perspective. We analysed the impact of caching on both gateway side and satellite terminal side for 2 on-trend services: web browsing and adaptive video streaming (dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP). The main contribution is an evaluation of transparent caching through a satellite platform. The caching policy is out of the scope of this paper. One large part of the testbed is based on an open-source platform, OpenSAND that emulates the satellite system. To confirm the results, some real experiments have been conducted on a commercial satellite link. As expected, the transparent caching at the satellite terminal side can increase the Quality of Experience to its upper border as long as the content is available in the cache. For the satellite gateway cache, the performances exceed the expectations. Although the application experiences the satellite delay in this case, the traversal time of different Internet service provider networks also delays the delivery of content. Then it may have a greater impact on reactivity than the satellite itself. Through careful analysis of the different results, we noticed some issues. Transparent caching is unable to cache encrypted or dynamic content. Moreover, a misuse of caching can provoke bad behaviour of dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP mechanisms and severely decrease the Quality of Experience. We designed a solution that in addition to solving the issue, alleviates the storage space of satellite terminal caches.

Trading delay and rate in upcoming satellite networks are of paramount interest. In this paper, we present a solution to optimally distribute resources across MAC, IP and APP layers to deal with the problem of efficiently and reliably delivering low latency and high rate inelastic services over such networks. In order to do so, we formulate the problem of rate/delay balancing according to a Network Utility Maximization (NUM) paradigm assuming Scalable Video Coding (SVC) feeding a cross-layer DiffServ architecture, and an adaptive physical layer. We solve not only the bit loading balancing across the IP queues but also the video layers distribution to be sent among the adaptive physical layers, all constrained by delay requirements. The solution, which provides a fair rate-delay trade-off, happens to be on a water filling load across the queuing architecture, and it is suitable for multicasting scenarios. Finally, we propose a full protocol design, implementation, and performance evaluation based on truly available standardized tools, hence, it is ready-to-use. Our solution significantly outperforms non cross-layer approaches in terms of delay and video quality, and it dynamically adapts to channel and traffic variations.