ACCORD – ESA CSC: Connectivity & Secure Communications

Objectives

The main objectives of the project are:

A complete specification of a fully software-based platform for a family of products that satisfy customers’ specific needs, with minimal customization

A fully operating testbed, including one terminal prototype and the gateways, which supports one satellite network (based on DVB-S2 for the forward link and DVB-RCS2 for the return link) and one terrestrial network (based on LTE).

The ACCORD TestBed is fully validated in a laboratory by means of complete channel emulation and traffic emulation facilities which are provided by the team.

The ACCORD platform is constructed solely of software modules. A generic ACCORD terminal only uses the following types of hardware:

SDR boards: all identical, each one can manage all the waveforms of the supported protocols;
CPU board: hosts the software which controls the SDR boards and manages the whole terminal. It can be equipped with GPU boards, FPGA, ASICs, etc. in order to increase the computational power required to run the SW;
RF Front / End Radio: one F/E for each network (satellite or terrestrial) is needed.

A terminal based on ACCORD platform can be built using commercial hardware.

Challenges

The ACCORD platform produces a family of hybrid terminals for dual use:

Automatic Network Detection:terminal able to automatically detect available networks maximizing the opportunity to use available connection.

Automatic and Seamless Vertical Handover: terminal continuously collecting metrics, on which the network selection process is based, from internal stages and from the NCC. No IP packet loss during handover.

Application-specific routing:traffic routed over networks selected by the decision algorithm.

High performance, scalability and security

Form factor and robustness: compact and lightweight terminal able to survive and move even in hostile environments. Different satellite and terrestrial networks can be used.

System Architecture

The automatic reconfigurability of the ACCORD terminal is performed through the following diagram.

The terminal includes three types of interfaces: Application&Signalling, Control&Metrics and Command. The Smart Router mechanism is implemented through a decision algorithm which takes as inputs metrics and configurations from other modules and elaborates them to find the best waveform to be used. Once found the waveform, application data are redirected towards it with a Vertical Handover command and internal routing functionalities, until a new best waveform is detected by the algorithm. The configuration and monitoring of the modules is performed through a WEB-GUI application which also gives to the user the possibility to act in real-time on system parameters.