Satellite constellation networks for aeronautical communication: traffic modelling and link load analysis

The authors examine two different non-geostationary satellite constellation networks with intersatellite links for global air traffic control and air passenger communication. After developing a traffic model for aeronautical communication services, the authors derive bandwidth requirements for such a global system. The influence of different routing policies is discussed and they show that link loads are comparable for both medium earth orbit and low earth orbit constellations. All considerations are based on real global flight data of all commercial flights during 1 day.