Summary : The INSURED project has aimed at integrating a terrestrial GSM system and a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite system. Dual Mode (Terrestrial and Satellite) Terminal (DMT) protocols and procedures for registration, interrogation, cell selection, cell re-selection, call set-up, call release, and (inter-segment) handover have been developed by consortium partners. Like in a GSM system, the initial cell selection needs to be successful in order to ensure the execution of any other procedure. Therefore, the INSURED DMT initialization starts by selecting an initial cell and then can be followed by a new cell selection or a call scenario. A call scenario starts by a call set-up that can be followed by several tentative handovers. Either the call set-up, or a tentative of handover can be interrupted at any time by a call release scenario.
After formally specifying the protocols in SDL, the functioning of all protocols and procedures has been verified in real field trials using Motorola's LEO satellite system IRIDIUM and the GSM network of the Austrian GSM-operator MAX.MOBIL. For this purpose a demonstrator DMT as well as a Network Testbed (the interworking unit on network side) have been produced. The project consortium itself has identified at the beginning of the project the prerequisite that no changes should be imposed on existing systems. The protocols have therefore been designed in a way that they can be applied to and understood by any GSM compatible system.
Hence, the INSURED protocols and procedures are of high interest both for satellite as well as terrestrial network operators and designers in Europe as well as world-wide.