Secure and efficient support of internet multicast transmission over satellite DVB

IP multicast is the best communication way for group-oriented applications in the internet. The next generation of DVB-based GEO satellites, supporting real-time multicast services, is characterized by the OBS (On-Board Switching) and multiple spot beams technologies. In this paper we focus on the efficient transmission of IP multicast over satellite DVB and on its security. For this, we propose a new encapsulation method called Enhanced ULE, derived from the ULE (Unidirectional Lightweight Encapsulation) standard encapsulation method. Our proposed encapsulation scheme adds zero overhead to ensure good link efficiency and preserve the expensive satellite resources. The EULE can get easily adapted to the existing OBS approaches, namely the label-switching and the self-switching, in order to ensure an efficient filtering and multicast forwarding. Since the security of multicast transmission is an important concern for operators to protect against eavesdropping, we also propose a secure version of the EULE called SEULE which provides all security services. The analysis of the proposed SEULE with the two switching approaches is presented, simulated and discussed.