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Objectives
The project aims to develop a product, the WGStargate Gateway, which will integrate the newest wireless technologies to access the Internet: UMTS/HSDPA/WIMAX/EvDo and Satellite.
This proposal will lead to the development of a communications system that will enable Internet Access for public use and private enterprise communications combining Satcom with terrestrial technology with cost optimization.
The WGStargate will enable cruise liners, public transportation vehicles, etc. to have high speed Internet access on the move and in remote places and to provide the Internet service to their clients through an intelligent bandwidth management algorithm that limits the bandwidth used by the clients and that assures bandwidth availability for enterprise communication at all times.
Challenges
- The WGStargate Manager will be the graphical configuration interface of the system.
- An Intelligent Link Selection algorithm which is based on link availability (is a UMTS network available? Or Wi-Fi?), transmission cost per Megabyte, service level agreement and performance will decide which interface should be used at a given time. The goal is cost optimization.
- Link resiliency: if a given link/network becomes unavailable at a given moment, the gateway will provide a resiliency mechanism, by switching communications service/link, that will try to keep always-on communication;
- Packet compression algorithms will be evaluated and an evaluation report will be the outcome. The introduction of packet compression algorithms in the WGStargate’s gateway will be done according to the evaluation results.
Plan
The project is organized in 5 work packages:
- WP0 – Project Inception/Launch (Feb/March 2007)
- WP1 – Development of WGStargate Gateway (March 2007 – Jan 2008)
- WP2 – System integration and testing (April 2007 – April 2008)
- WP3 – Field Deployment and Testing (Feb – May 2008)
- WP4 – Project Management
WP0 is divided into 2 tasks: gathering of project’s parameters and creation of project’s initial documentation.
WP1 includes all development activities for the WGStargate Gateway. This work package is subdivided into 7 sub-work packages: Gateway Design; Gateway Software Baseline; WGStargate Manager; Communication SATCOM drivers; Link Resiliency (Basic); Intelligent Link Selection; Packet Compression Evaluation. Each sub-work package is responsible for the development of the proposed functionalities.
WP2 is the system’s integration and testing work package. All developed functionalities will be tested according to the previously defined test plans.
WP3 is the Field Deployment and Test work package. The WGStargate’s solution will be deployed, in its beta versions, in a cruise liner boat at Douro river. The system will be thoroughly tested for a month, which corresponds to 4 complete trips.
Current Status
The WG Stargate project started on 1 December 2006 and was completed with the Final Review on October 15, 2008.
During this project, the following features have been developed for WGStargate v1.0:
- Link classification
- Link failover
- Intelligent Link Selection
- Traffic Measurements
- Link Resiliency
- Favourites pre-download
The field trials in the Douro Queen river boat have taken place in the months June/July/September 2008. As demonstrated at the Acceptance Review in September 2008, the system behaved as expected with all link selection algorithms working as designed. Traffic measurements have also been implemented.
The user can query these values via the WGStargate Manager web interface. This interface also allows the manual selection of access links, in case the client prefers a manual mode over an automatic mode.
The product is commercially available since November 2008. A first commercial installation has been done on a Madeira ferry implementing Internet services via TVRO (shore-to-ship) and 3G (ship-to-shore). The service is operational since July 2008.
From the testing and validation results further inputs for improvement of the system have been collected. Nonius Software is committed to evolve the operational product by implementing new features along with its commercialisation.
The list of identified elements for future developments is the following:
- TCP and PPP Optimization
- Push/Multicast services
- Monitoring Server – Remote Management
- Packet Compression
- Development of Advanced Link Classification Mechanisms
- Optimization of System Responsiveness
- Antenna Rotator Controller