Internet Routing in Space (IRIS) was a program to build a radiation-tolerant IP router created by

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

for satellite and related spacecraft. It was a follow-on from Cisco's earlier CLEO router in space on the UK-DMC satellite. The Cisco Space Router was launched to geostationary orbit on board Intelsat 14 (IS-14), a spacecraft built by Space Systems/Loral for satellite operator

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as ...

, in November 2009. IRIS was evaluated by the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

by way of a JCTD (Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration). The Space Router runs

Cisco IOS The Internetworking Operating System (IOS) is a family of proprietary network operating systems used on several router and network switch models manufactured by Cisco Systems. The system is a package of routing, switching, internetworking, an ...

(Internetworking Operating System) software and also contains an onboard

Software-defined radio Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that have been traditionally implemented in analog hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/ demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented b ...

running satellite modem waveforms. The

used the JCTD to evaluate the reduced latency, improved throughput and increased flexibility provided by the Space Router. The Space Router provided the ability to route

Internet Protocol The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. ...

computer network traffic on board the satellite, which enabled users of Web,

VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Interne ...

, and other IP applications to directly communicate without having to double-hop data to and from an intermediate

Earth station A ground station, Earth station, or Earth terminal is a terrestrial radio station designed for extraplanetary telecommunication with spacecraft (constituting part of the ground segment of the spacecraft system), or reception of radio wave ...

. The ability to avoid the double-hop to the Earth station can reduce latency, which is approximately 250 ms for GEO satellites. Latency reduction is a key driver for increased use of real-time applications, including video teleconferencing, over satellites. The avoidance of the double-hop to the

can also reduce satellite transponder costs. Routing IP traffic natively on the satellite with the router's built-in

Software and onboard

software-defined radio Software-defined radio (SDR) is a radio communication system where components that have been traditionally implemented in analog hardware (e.g. mixers, filters, amplifiers, modulators/ demodulators, detectors, etc.) are instead implemented b ...

can increase throughput, reduce latency, and enable flexible bandwidth-on-demand real-time applications between users in different geographic regions that do not have easy access to fiber networks. IRIS is an example of a

hosted payload A hosted payload is a module attached to a commercial satellite with communications circuitry that operates independently of the main spacecraft but which shares the satellite's power supply and transponders. The concept has been also been referred ...

, a method to add multiple non-core components to satellite to reduce the cost of launching the components into orbit.

References

External links

Will IRIS change the space business
Michael Armstrong-Smith, Space Newsfeed, May 2011.
IRIS information, papers and documents

Cisco Systems material on IRIS
(no longer online)
Intelsat General material on IRIS

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iris (Internet Routing In Space) Cisco Systems Satellite Internet access Spacecraft components