DART

DART is one of five network service demonstrators funded by the UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to test business models, applications and advanced services developed by a consortium of industry and academic partners:  Avanti Comunications, MetaBroadcast, Lancaster University, 21media and dot.rural.

DART offers a testbed incorporating advanced infrastructure using satellite broadband to allow open and flexible experimentation by third parties (e.g., content and application providers).

Avanti’s HYLAS 1 satellite provides the platform with over 200 rural users across the UK.

Technology enablers are used to create new services, applications and business models by combining adaptive variation of Quality of Service (QoS)/bandwidth, multicast, caching of multimedia content and micropayments.

DART brings together key players – so it can explore new services, network applications, billing, etc. IC Tomorrow is a common management platform providing a “market place” to support trials, and integration of value-added services. Trialists and experimenters are welcome to apply to use DART and other TSB service demonstrators.

Enablers

Dynamic variation of QoS/bandwidth and Micropayment

These provide a user with the ability to elevate their quality of service. This provides enhanced bandwidth for “premium” traffic. Implementation involves changes to both the way resources are managed (i.e., need to adapt resource management and SLA mechanisms) and also how they are charged (e.g., a small payment each time the service is used).

Timeplan

o Phase 1 (6 months): network demonstrator development.

o Phase 2 (1 year): experiment with advanced services, and business models.

o Phase 3 (6 months): analysis followed by dissemination of results.