Wireless channel pipeline stage for LTE based satellite network in OPNET: Design and implementation

As an important simulation platform for wireless communication, OPNET Modeler implements the wireless channel by 14 wireless channel pipeline stages for terrestrial mobile communication system, but does not support the proper realization of Long Term Evolution (LTE) based satellite communication system. In this paper, we analyze the differences between these two communication systems from the aspect of pipeline stages realization, then propose a novel wireless channel realization method based on the default pipeline stages for LTE based satellite communication system in OPNET. We modify the inapplicable pipeline stages and design a new realization method for interference calculation. Simulation results show that the proposed realization method is valid and applicable to LTE based satellite communication system.