Communication method and communication system

A communication method comprising:

• receiving, by a first node of a satellite communications network, a stream of terrestrial data packets that are encapsulated in accordance with a predetermined protocol, the first node configured to link with a second node via a satellite communications link using control plane satellite bandwidth for a control plane of the satellite communications link and user plane satellite bandwidth for a user plane of the satellite communications link;
• de-encapsulating, by the first node, the terrestrial data packets to extract control plane context, user plane context and QoS parameters for a user session in accordance with the predetermined protocol;
• encapsulating, by the first node, the control plane context and the user plane context within satellite data packets;
• adjusting, by a bandwidth manager at the first node using the QoS parameters, the control plane satellite bandwidth for the control plane of the satellite communications link;
• scheduling, by a packet scheduler at the first node using the QoS parameters, satellite data packets including the user plane context for transmission via the user plane of the satellite communications link;
• transmitting, by the first node, the satellite data packets including the control plane context to the second node of the satellite communications network via the control plane of the satellite communications link;
• and
• transmitting, by the first node, the satellite data packets including the user plane context to the second node of the satellite communications network via the user plane of the satellite communications link.

A communication method comprising:

• receiving, by a first node of a satellite communications network, a stream of terrestrial data packets that are encapsulated in accordance with a predetermined protocol, the first node forming a gateway for one of a terrestrial core network and a terrestrial base station that is linked to the terrestrial core network via the satellite communications network, the first node configured to link with a second node via a satellite communications link using control plane satellite bandwidth for a control plane of the satellite communications link and user plane satellite bandwidth for a user plane of the satellite communications link, the second node forming a gateway for the other one of the terrestrial core network and the terrestrial base station;
• de-encapsulating, by the first node, the terrestrial data packets to extract payload information by stripping at least one transport layer header;
• encapsulating, by the first node, the payload information within satellite data packets by adding to the payload information at least one reconstructed transport layer header having a smaller data size than the at least one transport layer header that has been stripped from the terrestrial data packets;
• adjusting, by a bandwidth manager at the first node using QoS parameters, the control plane satellite bandwidth for the control plane of the satellite communications link;
• scheduling, by a packet scheduler at the first node using QoS parameters, satellite data packets for the user plane of the satellite communications link;
• transmitting, by the first node, the satellite data packets including control plane context to the second node of the satellite communications network via the control plane of the satellite communications link;
• and
• transmitting, by the first node, the satellite data packets including user plane context to the second node of the satellite communications network via the user plane of the satellite communications link.

A communication system comprising:

• a first node of a satellite communications network, the first node forming a gateway for one of a terrestrial core network and a terrestrial base station that is linked to the terrestrial core network via the satellite communications network;
• and
• a second node of the satellite communications network, the second node being configured to link with the first node via a satellite communications link between the first node and the second node, the second node forming a gateway for the other one of the terrestrial core network and the terrestrial base station, the first node configured to link with the second node using control plane satellite bandwidth for a control plane of the satellite communications link and user plane satellite bandwidth for a user plane of the satellite communications link,
• the first node including
• a proxy device configured to receive a stream of terrestrial data packets that are encapsulated in accordance with a predetermined protocol, configured to de-encapsulate the terrestrial data packets to extract payload information by stripping at least one transport layer header, and configured to encapsulate the payload information within satellite data packets by adding to the payload information at least one reconstructed transport layer header having a smaller data size than the at least one transport layer header that has been stripped from the terrestrial data packets,
• a bandwidth manager configured to adjust the control plane satellite bandwidth for the control plane of the satellite communications link using QoS parameters,
• a packet scheduler configured to schedule satellite data packets using QoS parameters, and
• a transmitter configured to transmit the satellite data packets including control plane context to the second node via the control plane of the satellite communications link and to transmit the satellite data packets including user plane context to the second node via the user plane of the satellite communications link.