Testbeds
Testbed 1 | Geosynchronous Satellite Communications with EDGE capabilities
Purpose: GEO satellite communications Emulation
This testbed is based on the OpenSAND emulator, a user-friendly and efficient tool to emulate satellite communication systems, mainly DVB-RCS2 – DVB-S2. It provides a suitable and simple means for performance evaluation and innovative access and network techniques validation. Its ability to interconnect real equipment with real applications provides an excellent demonstration means. The testbed emulates a satellite node, a ground gateway node, and multiple ground satellite terminals. The user can transmit data from the ground terminal to the gateway node through the emulated satellite link. Full documentation and an operational manual are included.
Open Call Projects implemented in the testbed:
Testbed 2 | NGSO satellite testbed with EDGE capabilities
Purpose: NGSO satellite communication emulation
The testbed is a DLR-proprietary emulation framework based on Linux Mininet characterising data communications in NGSO satellite constellations, whose geometry and data rate parameters can be configured via command line or through a dedicated GUI. The emulation framework provides routing functionalities in the emulated space segment as well generation of IoT data from virtual nodes, according to well-defined probabilistic distributions. Further to this, data can be injected from external sources in order to extend the scope of the testbed as well as incorporate edge computing functionalities in both ground and space segments as containerised implementations. Full documentation and an operational manual are included.
Open Call Projects implemented in the testbed:
Testbed 4 | SEED-5G: SpaceEdge AI-Enabled Delay-Tolerant NB-IoT Platform
Purpose: Validation of delay-tolerant 5G NTN NB-IoT communications with edge processing capabilities over LEO satellite systems
The SEED-5G testbed is an emulated 5G NTN NB-IoT LEO satellite platform for validating delay-tolerant IoT applications with edge processing capabilities.
It supports the transmission of short NB-IoT messages (up to 200 bytes) carrying typical IoT data (e.g., temperature, humidity, positioning).
Developers access the platform via secure VPN to an emulated IoT device, which transmits data over the NB-IoT link to an emulated satellite node. Edge processing capabilities are available in both the IoT device and satellite nodes. Data is then forwarded to Sateliot’s 5G Core Network, where it can be further processed on a cloud node and/or delivered to an external IoT application server.
Open Call Projects implemented in the testbed:
Testbed 5 | LEO-Based NB-IoT Testbed for Onboard Edge AI Data Processing
Purpose: Validation of onboard edge AI processing for NB-IoT data over LEO satellite systems, enabling low-latency inference and efficient use of satellite resources.
This testbed integrates capabilities from SATELIOT and UBOTICA to simulate service provisioning of non-terrestrial NB-IoT communications via a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite with onboard AI capabilities. This setup supports narrowband IoT use cases (messages up to 200 bytes) and enables onboard edge deep learning inference. The system emulates a dual-mission payload, managing storage and processing of both Earth Observation (EO) imagery and IoT sensor data onboard the satellite. The objective of this testbed is to validate applications that leverage the joint use of IoT data (e.g., temperature, humidity, positioning) and EO imagery for onboard inference.
Open Call Projects implemented in the testbed: