Delay is Not an Option: Low Latency Routing in Space

By Mark James Handley. ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks, 2018

358 citations recorded by the source corpus.

SpaceX has filed plans with the US Federal Communications Committee (FCC) to build a constellation of 4,425 low Earth orbit communication satellites. It will use phased array antennas for up and downlinks and laser communication between satellites to provide global low-latency high bandwidth coverage. To understand the latency propertes of such a network, we built a simulator based on public details from the FCC filings. We evaluate how to use the laser links to provide a network, and look at the problem of routing on this network. We provide a preliminary evaluation of how well such a network can provide low-latency communications, and examine its multipath properties. We conclude that a network built in this manner can provide lower latency communications than any possible terrestrial optical fiber network for communications over distances greater than about 3000 km.

Subfields: Aerospace Engineering, Computer Networks and Communications, Electrical and Electronic Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/013dd6628e12a517633d3abdb85eab1af1c4a0fc

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In Aerospace Engineering

In Computer Networks and Communications

In Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Citations in the corpus

A Vision and Framework for the High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) Networks of the Future (2020, background): “Provided that satellites are equipped with laser-link communication capabilities, this goal is indeed reachable [267].”
A Survey on Nongeostationary Satellite Systems: The Communication Perspective (2021, background): “to the reduced signal propagation delays in NGSO communication systems comparing to GSO, low orbit constellations with ISLs have also lower delays than terrestrial fiber-optic systems since the speed of light in vacuum (free space) is approximately 50% higher than in a fiber-optic cable (3×108 versu”