ISAC-Powered Distributed Matching and Resource Allocation in Multi-band NTN

TL;DR

This paper proposes an ISAC-powered framework for multi-band satellite networks that enhances resilience and efficiency, significantly improving user throughput in NGSO systems affected by atmospheric conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated sensing and communications framework with distributed mechanisms for atmospheric sensing, cell matching, and resource allocation in multi-band NTNs.

Findings

Achieves 73% higher throughput per user compared to single-band systems.

Demonstrates resilience against atmospheric attenuation in multi-band satellite networks.

Validates framework effectiveness with multi-layer multi-band satellite constellation simulations.

Abstract

Scalability is a major challenge in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite networks due to the massive number of ground users sharing the limited sub-6 GHz spectrum. Using K- and higher bands is a promising alternative to increase the accessible bandwidth, but these bands are subject to significant atmospheric attenuation, notably rainfall, which can lead to degraded performance and link outages. We present an integrated sensing and communications (ISAC)-powered framework for resilient and efficient operation of multi-band satellite networks. It is based on distributed mechanisms for atmospheric sensing, cell-to-satellite matching, and resource allocation (RA) in a 5G Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) wide-area scenario with quasi-Earth fixed cells and a beam hopping mechanism. Results with a multi-layer multi-band constellation with satellites operating in the S- and K-bands demonstrate the benefits of our framework for ISAC-powered multi-band systems, which achieves 73% higher throughput per user when compared to single S- and K-band systems.