On Delay Performance in Mega Satellite Networks with Inter-Satellite Links

TL;DR

This paper evaluates different LEO satellite constellation architectures to develop a power-efficient topology that balances low delay and energy consumption, demonstrating improved energy efficiency with minimal delay increase.

Contribution

It introduces a novel power-efficient topology for LEO satellite networks and compares three common constellation types, showing improved energy efficiency over traditional ISL paths.

Findings

Proposed topology outperforms traditional ISL paths in energy efficiency.

The new topology maintains low delay with slight performance trade-offs.

Comparison of constellation types highlights optimal configurations for power and delay.

Abstract

Utilizing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks equipped with Inter-Satellite Links (ISL) is envisioned to provide lower delay compared to traditional optical networks. However, LEO satellites have constrained energy resources as they rely on solar energy in their operations. Thus requiring special consideration when designing network topologies that do not only have low-delay link paths but also low-power consumption. In this paper, we study different satellite constellation types and network typologies and propose a novel power-efficient topology. As such, we compare three common satellite architectures, namely; (i) the theoretical random constellation, the widely deployed (ii) Walker-Delta, and (iii) Walker-Star constellations. The comparison is performed based on both the power efficiency and end-to-end delay. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms long-haul ISL paths in terms of energy efficiency with only a slight hit to delay performance relative to the conventional ISL topology.