Routing Optimization of Small Satellite Networks based on Multi-commodity Flow

As the scale of small satellite network is not large and the transmission cost is high, it is necessary to optimize the routing problem. We apply the traditional time-expanded graph to model the data acquisition of small satellite network so that we can formulate the data acquisition into a multi-commodity concurrent flow optimization problem (MCFP) aiming at maximizing the throughput. We use an approximation method to accelerate the solution for MCFP and make global optimization of routing between satellite network nodes. After the quantitative comparison between our MCFP algorithm and general augmented path maximum flow algorithm and exploring the detail of the algorithm, we verify the approximation algorithm’s reasonable selection of routing optimization in small satellite network node communication.