QUIC-proxy based architecture for satellite communication to enhance a 5G scenario

In the definition of advanced 5G scenarios, one of the possible configurations including the satellite link is to consider it to provide a supplementary capacity to enhance backhauling towards data networks. The peculiar satellite physical characteristics and the resulting challenging communication environment (i.e., large propagation delays, possible losses, etc.) are usually tackled with the introduction of Performance Enhancing Proxies (PEPs) agents aimed to improve performance. In this regard, 5G offers the cutting-edge capability to exploit virtualization and slicing concepts, so that PEP can be implemented as a set of Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) to be dynamically deployed into the network responding to the specific requirement of the target service slice. In this paper we discuss this approach, validated in the frame of an European Space Agency (ESA) project, where a hybrid terrestrial-satellite backhaul is envisaged to enhance performance and system. In particular, we present a QUIC proxy as distributed VNFs aimed to efficiently manage the hybrid link allowing an efficient failover in case of terrestrial link outage or unavailability.