From S-MIM to F-SIM: Making Satellite Interactivity Affordable at Ku and Ka-band

This paper describes the evolution of the ETSI S-band Mobile Interactive Multimedia (S-MIM) protocol to support Fixed Interactive Multimedia Services (F-SIM) exploiting existing Ku and Ka-band satellites. The key F-SIM protocol differences for both physical and upper layers are described and justified. The F-SIM protocol has been adopted by the recently deployed Eutelsat Broadcast Interactive System (EBIS) whose architecture, key system parameters, link budget examples and key composing elements are also described. Finally, a summary of laboratory and field trials results over the Eutelsat Ka-Ssat multi-beam satellite are illustrated.