Mirror Routing for Satellite Networks With Cross-layer Optimization

Several strategies have been proposed for routing in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks. The multi-layered routing approaches are envisioned as promising because they use Middle Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite to extend the LEO satellite network’s communication capabilities. The previously proposed multi-layered routing approaches, however, still assume that the satellites in the same layer share similar characteristics. This assumption is not true in the future satellite networks. This is because the satellites in the future will be heterogeneous with various computation, communication and power capacities that lead to more complicated route construction challenges. In order to solve this problem, we propose the usage of cross-layer designs that can collect information from the neighboring satellites and evaluate their capacity during route construction and maintenance phases. This paper first analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different satellite routing approaches. Then a multi-layered routing scheme called Mirrored Routing with Cross-layer optimization (MRCL) is introduced. In order to reduce overhead caused by the routing scheme, a hop count limitation, instead of a strict grouping policy, is used to direct packets to the MEO layer. According to our simulations, the end-to-end delay can be reduced 15% when a proper hop count limitation is selected. The novel routing scheme also significantly reduces the packet loss and the routing overhead (in terms of bytes of routing information) compared to the routing without cross-layer optimization and hop limitation. We also simulate and careful investigate the performance of MRCL using various hop count limitation configuration.