Digital video broadcast (DVB) architecture for MILSATCOM

The digital content delivery marketplace has benefited substantially by the use of satellites. In recent years, the sophistication of satellite terminal hardware has increased markedly. As the market for direct-to-consumer satellite services has increased, the price of this hardware has decreased dramatically. During the past 20 years, a series of satellite/data networking interface and protocol standards have matured to the point where interoperability among satellite providers' terminal configurations is readily achievable. This stands in stark contrast to recently deployed systems that were based largely in proprietary interfaces and protocols end-to-end One satellite/broadcast standard that has rapidly evolved is Digital Video Broadcast, or DVB. DVB was originally devised as a European standard, through ETSI, as a mechanism for transmitting compressed digital video (MPEG-2) over cable and satellite broadcast infrastructure. Recent augmentations to the standard that incorporate encapsulation of Internet Protocol (IP) data, coupled with a standardized TDAM Return Channel Service (RCS) specification, have made it possible to build very capable satellite-based content delivery networks containing IP and video content.