Research - MPLS over satellite

I started off by writing a journal paper proposing using Multi-Protocol Label Switching in satellite constellations, and fifteen years later I found myself working on a two-satellite geostationary system that uses MPLS extensively for traffic engineering.

Some industry adoption of MPLS for satellite communication:

• Globalstar Selects Level 3 Communications for MPLS Network Upgrade, Caleb Henry, Via Satellite, 22 December 2014.
• Multi-Protocol Label Switching over satellite networks, ESTI press release, European Telecommunications Standards Institute, 21 October 2011.
• MPLS and iDirect Network, iDirect white paper, February 2008.

• An advanced LEO satellite network model based on MPLS-TP, Xinfeng Yan, Yongjun Zhang, Gang Zhou, Taoyan Bai, Zhihui Zhang and Wanyi Gu, International Conference on Advanced Intelligence and Awareness Internet (AIAI 2010), Beijing, October 2010.
• Traffic engineering the geostationary satellite constellation networks: An approach, B. Devi, IEEE Milcom, October 2009.
• MPLS traffic engineering for multimedia on satellite networks, A Durresi, M. Durresi, L. Barolli and F. Xhafa, ACM Journal of Mobile Multimedia, vol. 5 issue 1, pp. 3-11, March 2009.
• MPLS traffic engineering for multimedia on satellite networks, A Durresi, M. Durresi, L. Barolli and F. Xhafa, First International Conference on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS), April 2007.
• MPLS-based satellite constellation networks, A. Donner, M Berioli and M. Werner, IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, vol. 22 issue 3, April 2004, pp 438-448.
• An MPLS networking concept for satellite constellations, A. Donner, M. Berioli and M. Werner, Elsevier Teletraffic Science and Engineering, Providing Quality of Service in Heterogeneous Environments, Proceedings of the 18th International Teletraffic Congress - ITC-18. Berlin, Germany, 31 August-5 September 2003. vol. 5, 2003, pp. 41-50. (DOI 10.1016/S1388-3437(03)80149-X)
• MPLS Traffic Engineering for LEO Satellite Constellation Networks, M. Berioli, A. Donner, R. Menichelli and M. Werner, Proceedings of the 21st AIAA International Communications Satellite Systems Conference and Exhibit (ICSSC), Yokohama, Japan, April 2003.
• Providing IP QoS over GEO Satellite Systems Using MPLS, T. Örs and C. Rosenberg, International Journal of Satellite Communications, vol. 9 issue 5, pp. 443-461, September/October, 2001.
• Internetworking with satellite constellations, L. Wood, PhD thesis, University of Surrey, June 2001, ch. 5 expands on the paper below.
• IP routing issues in satellite constellation networks, L. Wood, A. Clerget, I. Andrikopoulos, G. Pavlou and W. Dabbous, International Journal of Satellite Communications, vol. 19 no. 1, pp. 69-92, January/February 2001. (DOI 10.1002/sat.655)

MPLS (pronounced M-P-L-S) was originally developed at router vendors as tag switching before being taken to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for standardisation. The IETF was known for meeting regularly in Minneapolis, also known as Mpls. Efforts to call the protocol Mipples have not caught on.

Lloyd Wood (lloydwood@users.sourceforge.net)