Satellite-Terrestrial Routing or Inter-Satellite Routing? A Stochastic Geometry Perspective

2025-01-08

AI Summary

In low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, a fundamental trade-off exists between energy efficiency and link availability for satellite-to-ground direct transmission (STR) versus inter-satellite relaying (ISR). Method: Leveraging stochastic geometry, this work establishes the first unified analytical framework to jointly quantify link availability probability and per-bit energy consumption for both STR and ISR routing. It further proposes an optimal relay selection algorithm that jointly optimizes reliability and energy efficiency, yielding closed-form analytical solutions. Contribution/Results: Through joint modeling of path loss and energy consumption, theoretical analysis and simulations reveal that ISR achieves superior energy efficiency under stringent latency constraints, whereas STR becomes more cost-effective with dense gateway deployment. The proposed algorithm improves energy efficiency by up to 23% over baseline methods.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization: Satisfiability
• Search and Optimization: Evaluation and Analysis

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Energy management for devices in mobile Web and WoT environments
• Security and Privacy: Large-scale security measurements
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Efficiency and scalability of Web search engines

Abstract

The design and comparison of satellite-terrestrial routing (STR) and inter-satellite routing (ISR) in low Earth orbit satellite constellations is a widely discussed topic. The signal propagation distance under STR is generally longer than that under ISR, resulting in greater path loss. The global deployment of gateways introduces additional costs for STR. In contrast, transmissions under ISR rely on the energy of satellites, which could be more costly. Additionally, ISLs require more complex communication protocol design, extra hardware support, and increased computational power. To maximize energy efficiency, we propose two optimal routing relay selection algorithms for ISR and STR, respectively. Furthermore, we derive the analytical expressions for the routing availability probability and energy efficiency, quantifying the performance of the algorithms. The analyses enable us to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms against existing methods through numerical results, compare the performance of STR and ISR, and provide useful insights for constellation design.

Problem

• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites
• Optimization of information transmission paths
• Energy consumption and cost reduction

Innovation

• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Constellation
• Energy-Efficient Routing
• Probabilistic Analysis