  In this paper, we have provided a summary of the design options in
Satellite-ATM technology. A satellite ATM network consists of a space segment
of satellites connected by inter-satellite crosslinks, and a ground segment of
the various ATM networks. A satellite-ATM interface module connects the
satellite network to the ATM networks and performs various call and control
functions. A network control center performs various network management and
resource allocation functions. Several issues such as the ATM service model,
media access protocols, and traffic management issues must be considered when
designing a satellite ATM network to effectively transport Internet traffic. We
have presented the buffer requirements for TCP/IP traffic over ATM-UBR for
satellite latencies. Our results are based on TCP with selective
acknowledgments and a per-VC buffer management policy at the switches. A buffer
size of about 0.5 * RTT to 1 * RTT is sufficient to provide over 98% throughput
to infinite TCP traffic for long latency networks and a large number of
sources. This buffer requirement is independent of the number of sources. The
fairness is high for a large numbers of sources because of the per-VC buffer
management performed at the switches and the nature of TCP traffic.
