Re: [EToSat] New Version Notification for draft-lhan-problems-requirements-satellite-net-02.txt

[Christian Huitema <[e-mail]>]

On 2/25/2022 4:23 PM, Meiling Chen wrote:

> 3GPP has regarded satellite network as 5G NG-RAN infrastructure, Network Operators need and want to be able to use satellite networks to provide services, the owner of satellite network should use the technology provided by IETF instead of private technology which is used currently.

3GPP solves a specific problem: standardize the communication between 
mobile phone and wireless network so phones can work and roam on 
multiple networks. I don't think we are close to the point were 
satellite phones can be designed to work on multiple satellite networks. 
Of course if multiple satellite network operators and device make to the 
IETF and asked to develop such standards, the IETF would most probably 
hear them. But the satellite operators are certainly not doing that now.

EToSat has been addressing a different but related problem: make sure 
that end-to-end protocols like TCP, TLS, HTTP or QUIC work well on paths 
that include satellite links or satellite networks. Up to date, that 
work has mostly addressed the geostationary satellite, dealing with long 
latency. Constellations of low orbit satellites do not suffer too much 
from the long latency problem, but may introduce other issues such as 
maybe variable bit rate or variable latency -- I say maybe because this 
is just a guess. If there are such issues, we may need to improve 
transport protocols or their implementation. But I have not heard of 
specific requests to address that so far.

>   To develop, we need to change the stateof privatization. From the perspective of economy, satellite networks will be shared in the future. It is impossible for each Service Provider to send a large satellite network, sure you know that.  Therefore, the technology of satellite network should be dominated by IETF and 3GPP like the current Internet and wireless technology.

On the contrary, each existing provider is using their own set of 
satellites, be it Inmarsat, Iridium, Globalstar, SpaceX or their future 
competitors. The IETF is not in a position to regulate the industry and 
change that practice.

-- Christian Huitema