Evaluation of delay tolerant network routing protocols for data streaming through LEO constellation

Abstract

In the Era of Mega Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, the efficient networking through Inter-Satellite Links (ISLs) plays a vital role in its mission success. The deployed networking resources must be justified regarding the feasibility, reliability, and Quality of Service (QoS). The main challenge of such networks is the ISLs intermittence due to the dynamic nature of the constellation topology. In addition to the space environment. From this perspective, Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) protocols were proposed for alleviating the events of intermittence. This paper introduces a technique for using the discrete-event network simulator (NS3) for the simulation of LEO constellation networks. This technique considers the dynamic nature of network’s nodes in data streaming through ISLs. The paper presents a performance assessment of LEO constellation networks dedicated for forwarding the payload data through ISLs. The performance measures include both the delay and delivery ratio. The assessment considers different local resources such as transmitted power, Queue size, and transmission rate. The performance measures were applied for some selected DTN protocols such as “Epidemic” and “Spray and Wait”. The results illustrate the effects of different network resources and configurations that may affect the constellation mission.