Software Defined Space-Air-Ground Integrated Vehicular Networks: Challenges and Solutions

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel software defined space-air-ground network architecture designed to support diverse vehicular services efficiently, with layered structure, resource slicing, and hierarchical management to address integration challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a layered SDN architecture with resource slicing and hierarchical control for space-air-ground vehicular networks, addressing integration challenges.

Findings

Effective resource slicing for service isolation.

Hierarchical controllers manage dynamic resource pools.

Case study demonstrates architecture feasibility.

Abstract

This article proposes a software defined space-air-ground integrated network architecture for supporting diverse vehicular services in a seamless, efficient, and cost-effective manner. Firstly, the motivations and challenges for integration of space-air-ground networks are reviewed. Secondly, a software defined network architecture with a layered structure is presented. To protect the legacy services in satellite, aerial, and territorial segments, resources in each segment are sliced through network slicing to achieve service isolation. Then, available resources are put into a common and dynamic space-air-ground resource pool, which is managed by hierarchical controllers to accommodate vehicular services. Finally, a case study is carried out, followed by discussion on some open research topics.