Embratel Star One operates 7 satellites that provide satellite infrastructure for applications like TV, broadband networks, and telephony across Brazil and Latin America. Testing was conducted to evaluate integrating LTE networks with satellite backhaul. Two scenarios were tested: with the EPC located at the VSAT terminal and with the EPC located at the hub. Performance was improved with the EPC at the VSAT terminal, with higher throughput and lower latency. The results showed good user experience for voice services and sustainable data rates compatible with satellite capacity. Further challenges include improving traffic acceleration and testing EPC split between the VSAT and hub.

1. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Embratel Star One II International Workshop on Challenges and Trends on Broadband Wireless Mobile Access Networks – Beyond LTE-A Guilherme Marques Mattos
Challenges and Opportunities on Testing
LTE Backhaul via Satellite
CPqD, Campinas 05-06 de Novembro de 2014

2. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Contents
1.Embratel Star One
2.Today and Future Satellites fleet
3.Combining advantages of LTE + Satellite
4.Motivations to test LTE via satellite
5.Simulation laboratory setup
6.Real scenarios tested
7.Comparative measurements
8.Results and New Challenges

3. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Embratel Star One
•Star One is 100% owned by Embratel, an America Movil Company
•Largest Regional Satellite Operator in Latin America
•7 satellites fleet + 2 new under construction
•U$800 million invested on Star One C1, C2 and C3 construction
•U$720 million invested on Star One C4 and D1 construction
•Around 200 brazilian engineers and technicians
•More than 30 years of satellite experience
•Hot position with more than 20 million dishes
•First in the world to obtain ISO 9001 Certificate on Satellite Control Services

4. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Embratel Star One
Star One delivers satellital infrastructure to different applications like TV, broadband networks and telephony, covering Brazil, South, Central and North America.
GUARATIBA-RJ
Control and Operation Center and Claro TV uplink (backup)
TANGUÁ-RJ
Marketing and Support areas (Embratel),
Sales, Engineering and Regulatory (Star One)
DOWNTOWN-RJ
Control and Operation Center and Claro TV uplink (main)
Control Centers 100% in Brazil

5. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Four Control Centers in Guaratiba, RJ
•Spacial Segment Control Center
-current 6 satellites (B2, B3, B4, C1, C2, C3)
-next 2 satellites (C4, D1)
•Claro hdtv Control Center
-monitoring more than 170 channels (HD, SD, radio)
-complex with 8 reception antennas
-uplink control and monitoring
•Communications Control Center
-spectrum monitoring
-analysis of interferences
•Broadband Control Center
-corporate networks operation
-multiple networks of voice, data and video
-different manufacturers and technologies
Embratel Star One

6. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Today and Future Satellites fleet
Star One specified, contracted and launched 9 geostationary communication satellites with success.
Control Center
GUARATIBA
Star One C3
C, Ku
Bands
C, Ku
Bands
75º W
70º W
Star One C2
65º W
Star One C1
C, Ku
Bands
Ku Band (GHz): 13,75 - 14,50 (Up) / 10,95 - 12,20 (Dw)
3rd gen: C1, C2, C3
1st gen: A1, A2
C Band (GHz): 5,850 - 6,425 (Up) / 3,625 - 4,200 (Dw)
C Band
C Band
(Inclined Orbit)
Brasilsat B3
84º W
Brasilsat B2
63º W
Brasilsat B4
92º W
C Band
(Inclined Orbit)
2nd gen: B1, B2, B3, B4
Star One D1
C, Ku, Ka
Under construction
Forecast 1Q / 2016
Ka Band (GHz): 27,00 - 30,00 (Up) / 17,70 - 20,20 (Dw)
4th gen: D1
Star One C4
Ku
Under construction
Forecast 2Q / 2015
Co-location
C2-C4
, C4
C Band
(SES NSS-10)
Star One C12
37,5º W
, C12

7. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Satellite characteristics:
• Manufacturer: Space Systems Loral (SSL)
• Plataform: SSL 1300
• Total Mass: around 5680 Kg
• Contractual Life: 15 years
• Orbital Position: 70°W
• Capacity: 48 transponders in Ku Band
Launch:
• Forecast: 2Q/2015
• Launcher Vehicle: Ariane 5
• Launch Base: Kourou Space Center – French Guyana
Satellite Star One C4

8. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Satellite Star One C4 - Coverages
BRAK Brazil Ku Band
- DTH
- VSAT
- SNG
WLAK West of Latin America Ku Band
- DTH
- VSAT
COMK
CONUS and Mexico
Ku Band
- VSAT

9. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Satellite characteristics:
• Contractual Life: 15 years
• Orbital Position: 84°W
• 3 Payloads:
 28 transponders in C Band
 24 transponders in Ku Band
 18 transponders in Ka Band
• Capacity in Ka Band:
 Spot beams covering Brazil territory
 Around 20Gbps data traffic
 Two geographical diversity gateways in Brazil
–Gateway South: Guaratiba (Main) Tanguá (Diversity)
–Gateway North: under evaluation Launch:
• Forecast: 1Q/2016
• Launcher Vehicle: Ariane 5
• Launch Base: Kourou Space Center – French Guyana
Satellite Star One D1

10. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Satellite Star One D1 - Coverages
WSAK
West of South America
Ku Band
- VSAT
MCAK Mexico and Central America Ku Band - VSAT
BSAC Brazil and South America C Band
- Video
- Telephony
- Cellular Backhaul
- VSAT
BRAK
Brazil Ku Band
- VSAT
BBKA Brazil Beams Ka Band
- Cellular Backhaul
- Video
- Broadband

11. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Combining Advantages of LTE + Satellite
• Continental or spot beams (cells) coverages
• Fast and easy implementation on rural and remote areas
• Cost of remote site is lower than fiber and radio
• Works with poin-to-point dedicated or star shared mode
simetric 128Kbps up to 155Mbps (dedicated)
(as)simetric up to 100Mbps/8Mbps (shared)
• Small antennas (0,60m up to 3,6m) on remote sites depending on applications, mode, frequency band
• Delay and jitter compensations with TCP and HTTP acceleration
• Support to data, voice, VoIP, video, multicast, EFT, etc
• Backhauling independent of terrestrial facilities and mobile radio spectrum
Satellite Advantages
LTE Advantages
• All IP mobile network
• Support to data, voice, VoIP, video, etc
• Higher rates for mobile applications
• Support high mobility
• Lower cost per bit
• Spectrum flexibility (450MHz, 700MHz, 2.5GHz, etc)
• New OFDM (Dw) and SC-FDMA (Up) techniques
• Improved spectral efficiency
• Reduced delay compared with past generations 2G, 3G
• High degree of flexibility and scenarios applications
• Effective QoS mechanisms
• World wide standard acceptance
• Well defined roadmap
• Helping mobile operator to meet regulatory obligations
• Sites can switchover between dedicated and shared mode depending on traffic demand

12. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Motivations to test LTE via satellite
•Getting the first impression in terms of performance when combining both technologies (LTE + Satellite);
•Configuring and optimizing LTE temporizations and protocols to support geostationary communication satellite delays;
•Identifying which and how the parameters on satellite network must be ajusted to provide a good performance to the solution;
•Finding the best elements that fit to the solution in order to provide the best results;
•Taking advantage of satellites facilities like continental coverage and fast implementation;
•Finding alternatives to deliver new services at remote sites with 4G networks in order to meet ANATEL obligations and national coverage objectives, aiming at:
–Searching for service availability in areas with no other terrestrial alternative
–Offering competitive alternative in areas served by only one service provider

13. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Simulation laboratory setup
Satellite dedicated link delay simulation laboratory setup
SATELLITE DELAY
HUB
ENB
UE
VSAT
EPC
INTERNET

14. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Real scenarios tested
Compact EPC at VSAT side
Scenario 1
Compact EPC at HUB side
Scenario 2

15. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Scenario 1 – Compact EPC at VSAT side
Satellite Path
Satellite + LTE Path
VSAT User Terminal Downlink: DVB-S2 Uplink: DVB-RCS

16. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
VSAT User Terminal Downlink: DVB-S2 Uplink: DVB-RCS
Scenario 2 – Compact EPC at HUB side
Satellite Path
Satellite + LTE Path

17. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Network Test Setup
Star One HUB - Guaratiba Site
LTE Terminal (UE)
eNodeB
Compact EPC
Star One VSAT - CPqD Site
VSAT
Guaratiba Station
Compact EPC
Satellite Platform

18. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Comparative Measurements
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
•Measurement results obtained in operational satellite network
•Configurations:
1 (Compact EPC at VSAT side)
2 (Compact EPC at HUB side)
•Performance improvement with compact EPC at VSAT side vs EPC at HUB side:
5% for throughput download
36% for throughput upload
8% for RTT measured at VSAT side
3% for RTT measured at HUB side
Throughput
RTT
Download
Upload
Download
Upload

19. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Results and New Challenges
•Good user experience for voice service for both uplink and downlink;
•Best MOS 4.4 measured with PESQ tool and EPC at VSAT side;
•Performance improvement with compact EPC at VSAT side vs EPC at HUB side;
•Optimized LTE integration with satellite backhaul resulting mean RTT less than 650 ms as expected;
•Sustainable download and upload data rates (average 50%, peak 80%) compatible with satellite shared channel capacity (Maximum: 8 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload);
•LTE plus satellite system architecture integration evaluation (compact centralized/decentralized EPC)
Results
New Challenges
•Improving the acceleration of traffic tunneled in GTP;
•Testing a third scenario with Split-EPC (control plane at VSAT side and user plane at HUB side);
•Looking forward to solutions with Ka Band satellites where it is possible to obtain even higher rates and lower costs per Mbps;
•E2E QoS optimization for new applications such as M2M and Smart Grid

20. STAR ONE – A OPERADORA DE SATÉLITES DA EMBRATEL
Thanks
Guilherme Marques Mattos
Satellite Engineering Master Specialist guimar@starone.com.br +55 21 (21) 2121-8561