Remote management over the satellite link
In many satellite communication systems, remote unmanned stations are part of the deployment plan. Furthermore, many distant remote stations lack internet connectivity infrastructure. This results in having to send a technical team to remote sites to deal with any issue. This can be time consuming and costly. For any problem other than electrical power failure, Over-the-Air (OTA) access provides a perfect solution for seamlessly controlling remote units from the hub, over the satellite link, with full capabilities.
This feature is used to enable management access to a remote satellite modem, which does not have an out-of-band management connectivity. The feature enables remote management to the remote unit, and/or sending upgrade software to remote devices.
The mechanism allows the administrator to perform the following actions:
• Access the remote unit
• Send software upgrades
• Send configuration files
• Send configuration commands
For bi-directional based operations with IP based modems, a virtual interface addition may be needed. The type of this interface is dependent on the data forwarding mode configured to the modems. When working in L2, the additional virtual interface should be a “bridge” type interface, while when working in L3, the virtual interface should be a “loopback” interface.
In unidirectional based operations, remote command execution cannot be based on feedback and therefore a different mechanism is needed. Given that, there is no better acknowledge than human verification on the remote side, the OTA mechanism is utilizing a smart repetition mechanism.
A dedicated logical channel was developed, for the “Over the Air” unidirectional control of remote unit, with the name of “MGMT Channel”.