DVB-S2 is widely adopted in satellite broadband (“satellite internet”) for the user downlink and in many interactive or professional peer-to-peer networks. Compared to DVB-S2 developed and specified in the early 2000s, DVB-S2X is a state-of-the-art, backwards-compatible extension and superset, providing higher spectral efficiencies and new features to enable or promote new applications in the professional receiver and modulator/demodulator (MODEM) market.
Satellite communication is a multi-billion market, with dozens of satellites being launched each year, providing terabytes of capacity worldwide. The lion’s share of this capacity is used in direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast, followed by the emerging satellite broadband market using high-throughput satellites (HTS). Professional equipment is used in these mainstream markets in some cases like in-flight entertainment and connectivity and in the military domain (MILCOM). The remainder of the professional market is typically on bandwidth-lease transponders and used for a plurality of applications, including remote site connectivity, backhauling, news and data gathering.
With DVB-S2X replacing DVB-S2 and becoming a “must have”, the subsequent section provides further insight into
- why to upgrade an existing professional MODEM platform to support DVB-S2X;
- where DVB-S2X is demanding in terms of resources and implementation effort; and
- how DVB-S2X technology and IP available at Fraunhofer IIS may be advantageously used in a product design.
Special attention is on the needs of equipment manufactures active in satellite and non-satellite communication markets, currently evaluating why, where and how to add DVB-S2X support into their products.