Resilience of Mega-Satellite Constellations: How Node Failures Impact Inter-Satellite Networking Over Time?

2025-09-08

AI Summary

This study addresses the impact of node failures on inter-satellite network resilience in large-scale satellite constellations (e.g., Starlink). To this end, we propose a service-aware temporal betweenness centrality metric. Our method constructs a discrete-time temporal graph model and integrates node importance assessment, stochastic and targeted failure injection, and end-to-end service disruption simulation to systematically characterize connectivity degradation and self-recovery under dynamic topology evolution. The key contributions are: (i) embedding service availability directly into temporal centrality measurement, enabling quantitative cross-temporal evaluation of failure impact; and (ii) revealing the synergistic mechanism by which topological dynamics and adaptive rerouting jointly enhance network resilience. Experimental results demonstrate that inter-satellite links inherently possess partial fault tolerance, and rerouting restores over 90% of disrupted paths within three hops, significantly improving post-failure service continuity.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Satisfiability
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Geometric, Spatial, and Temporal Reasoning

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Social media analysis through the lenses of networks
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web performance, measurement, and characterization

Abstract

Mega-satellite constellations have the potential to leverage inter-satellite links to deliver low-latency end-to-end communication services globally, thereby extending connectivity to underserved regions. However, harsh space environments make satellites vulnerable to failures, leading to node removals that disrupt inter-satellite networking. With the high risk of satellite node failures, understanding their impact on end-to-end services is essential. This study investigates the importance of individual nodes on inter-satellite networking and the resilience of mega satellite constellations against node failures. We represent the mega-satellite constellation as discrete temporal graphs and model node failure events accordingly. To quantify node importance for targeted services over time, we propose a service-aware temporal betweenness metric. Leveraging this metric, we develop an analytical framework to identify critical nodes and assess the impact of node failures. The framework takes node failure events as input and efficiently evaluates their impacts across current and subsequent time windows. Simulations on the Starlink constellation setting reveal that satellite networks inherently exhibit resilience to node failures, as their dynamic topology partially restore connectivity and mitigate the long-term impact. Furthermore, we find that the integration of rerouting mechanisms is crucial for unleashing the full resilience potential to ensure rapid recovery of inter-satellite networking.

Problem

• Assessing impact of satellite node failures on inter-satellite networking resilience
• Quantifying node importance for service continuity in mega-constellations
• Evaluating dynamic topology's role in mitigating failure consequences

Innovation

• Modeling constellations as discrete temporal graphs
• Proposing service-aware temporal betweenness metric
• Developing analytical framework for failure impact assessment