Publications

Network topology analysis

Lee, David S.; Kalb, Jeffrey L.

Emerging high-bandwidth, low-latency network technology has made network-based architectures both feasible and potentially desirable for use in satellite payload architectures. The selection of network topology is a critical component when developing these multi-node or multi-point architectures. This study examines network topologies and their effect on overall network performance. Numerous topologies were reviewed against a number of performance, reliability, and cost metrics. This document identifies a handful of good network topologies for satellite applications and the metrics used to justify them as such. Since often multiple topologies will meet the requirements of the satellite payload architecture under development, the choice of network topology is not easy, and in the end the choice of topology is influenced by both the design characteristics and requirements of the overall system and the experience of the developer.