A Routing Protocol for Hierarchical LEO/MEO Satellite IP Networks

The rapid growth of Internet-based applications pushes broadband satellite networks to carry on IP traffic. In previously proposed connectionless routing schemes in satellite networks, the metrics used to calculate the paths do not reflect the total delay a packet may experience. In this paper, a new Satellite Grouping and Routing Protocol (SGRP) is developed. In each snapshot period, SGRP divides Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites into groups according to the footprint area of the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites. Based on the delay reports sent by LEO satellites, MEO satellite managers compute the minimum-delay paths for their LEO members. Since the signaling traffic is physically separated from the data traffic, link congestion does not affect the responsiveness of delay reporting and routing table calculation. The snapshot and group formation methods as well as fast reacting mechanisms to address link congestion and satellite failures are described in detail. The performance of SGRP is evaluated through simulations and analysis.

[1]  Chao Chen A QoS-based routing algorithm in multimedia satellite networks , 2003, 2003 IEEE 58th Vehicular Technology Conference. VTC 2003-Fall (IEEE Cat. No.03CH37484).

[2]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  A routing algorithm for connection‐oriented Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks with dynamic connectivity , 2000, Wirel. Networks.

[3]  Yanghee Choi,et al.  FSA-based link assignment and routing in low-earth orbit satellite networks , 1998 .

[4]  Walid Dabbous,et al.  IP routing issues in satellite constellation networks , 2001, Int. J. Satell. Commun. Netw..

[5]  Sun Kang,et al.  Satellite over satellite (SOS) network: a novel architecture for satellite network , 2000, Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2000. Conference on Computer Communications. Nineteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (Cat. No.00CH37064).

[6]  C.-J. Wang,et al.  Structural properties of a low Earth orbit satellite constellation - the Walker delta network , 1993, Proceedings of MILCOM '93 - IEEE Military Communications Conference.

[7]  Michael David Violet,et al.  The development and application of a cost per minute metric for the evaluation of mobile satellite systems in a limited-growth voice communications market , 1995 .

[8]  Tao Li,et al.  Routing and re-routing in a LEO/MEO two-tier mobile satellite communications system with inter-satellite links , 2000, 2000 IEEE International Conference on Communications. ICC 2000. Global Convergence Through Communications. Conference Record.

[9]  Eylem Ekici,et al.  MLSR: a novel routing algorithm for multilayered satellite IP networks , 2002, TNET.

[10]  Randy H. Katz,et al.  On distributed, geographic-based packet routing for LEO satellite networks , 2000, Globecom '00 - IEEE. Global Telecommunications Conference. Conference Record (Cat. No.00CH37137).

[11]  M. Werner,et al.  Performance of optimized routing in LEO intersatellite link networks , 1997, 1997 IEEE 47th Vehicular Technology Conference. Technology in Motion.

[12]  Eylem Ekici,et al.  A distributed routing algorithm for datagram traffic in LEO satelitte networks , 2001, TNET.

[13]  F AkyildizIan,et al.  A distributed routing algorithm for datagram traffic in LEO satelitte networks , 2001 .

[14]  Andrew S. Tanenbaum,et al.  Computer networks (3rd ed.) , 1996 .

[15]  M. Werner,et al.  Methodology for Traffic Analysis and ISL Capacity Dimensioning in Broadband Satellite Constellations Using Optical WDM Networking , 2001 .

[16]  Axel Böttcher,et al.  Analysis of System Parameters for LEO/ICO-Satellite Communication Networks , 1995, IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun..