Distributed Uplink Anti-Jamming in LEO Mega-Constellations via Game-Theoretic Beamforming

TL;DR

This paper proposes a distributed game-theoretic beamforming approach for LEO satellite constellations to mitigate ground-based jamming, demonstrating improved uplink resilience through satellite cooperation in realistic simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel distributed anti-jamming strategy modeled as a convex-concave game and provides an efficient solver with convergence guarantees, tailored for LEO mega-constellations.

Findings

Distributed cooperation enhances uplink resilience against jamming.

The proposed solver converges quickly to the Nash equilibrium.

Simulations show significant capacity improvements under strong interference.

Abstract

Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have become vital in emerging commercial and defense Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs). However, their predictable orbital dynamics and exposed geometries make them highly susceptible to ground-based jamming. Traditional single-satellite interference mitigation techniques struggle to spatially separate desired uplink signals from nearby jammers, even with large antenna arrays. This paper explores a distributed multi-satellite anti-jamming strategy leveraging the dense connectivity and high-speed inter-satellite links of modern LEO mega-constellations. We model the uplink interference scenario as a convex-concave game between a desired terrestrial transmitter and a jammer, each optimizing their spatial covariance matrices to maximize or minimize achievable rate. We propose an efficient min-max solver combining alternating best-response updates with projected gradient descent, achieving fast convergence of the beamforming strategy to the Nash equilibrium. Using realistic Starlink orbital geometries and Sionna ray-tracing simulations, we demonstrate that while close-proximity jammers can cripple single-satellite links, distributed satellite cooperation significantly enhances resilience, shifting the capacity distribution upward under strong interference.