IP over satellite/OSI model question

subsooner711

If you are using a satellite connection for IP communications what would be considered the physical layer?

emerald_octane

The card that you would connect to the satellite itself such as the IP VSAT module would be considered layer 1 & I think layer 2.

iamme4eva

I would say the dish, the modem, the cabling (and waveguide if the sat is big enough). Anything responsible for converting data to electrical (or RF) signals and transporting them.

dover

Yeah, I'd agree that RF (and the equipment necessary for its use) is the 'physical' layer concerned with the ability to transmit raw bits of data over a medium. That would include the receiver/transmitter on the ground dish and the receiver/transmitter on the orbiting sat.

But I'm a little fuzzy on whether or not the transponder - or allotted frequency - for a particular communications session would be part of the data link layer or not.