The main reference of the research carried out in the Satellite Communications and Networking Laboratory concerns the Quality of Service (QoS) management in heterogeneous telecommunications networks, which often includes satellite and wireless portions. To offer services with a specific quality assurance over networks involving heterogeneous support, for both the physical (terrestrial, satellite and radio portions), and the protocols solutions, is very challenging because it implies the solution of complex problems and multidisciplinary research.
The transmission of information through this integrated system should look like transparent from the users' viewpoint. In other words, the scientific-technological objective is to eliminate the differences between the heterogeneous portions of the network through the definition and the use of appropriate interfaces and algorithms that make transparent interconnection of various components of the network. These concepts are the basis of the developed research and contain scientific challenges still unresolved in the technology currently in use.
Communicating across heterogeneous networks with guaranteed quality represents the future of telecommunications technology within the framework defined by the Global Information Infrastructure (GII) where multiple networks composed of different channel typology, such as fiber optic cables, coaxial cables, satellites, radio and copper cable, will bring a wide range of telecommunications services and information in homes, businesses, schools and hospitals. These networks will form the basis for changing national and global infrastructure and the creation of an integrated network capable of uniting all of the protagonists.
The result will be a new scientific-technological base that will provide opportunities and challenges for individuals, research centers, industries and governments. Designing appropriate interfaces and to provide integrated solutions for fixed and mobile communications nodes of the network is a way to realize the concept of network convergence, where various communication channels, such as satellite and wireless and wired networks, work together in order to form a single telecommunications network.