Resource Allocation in Space Multiaccess Systems

Abstract

Currently, most Landsat satellites are deployed in the low earth orbit (LEO) to obtain high-resolution data of the Earth surface and atmosphere. However, the return channels of LEO satellites are unstable and discontinuous intrinsically, resulting from the high orbital velocity, long revisit interval, and limited ranges of ground-based radar receivers. Space-based information networks, in which data can be delivered by the cooperative transmission of relay satellites, can greatly expand the spatial transport connection ranges of LEO satellites. While different types of these relay satellites deployed in orbits of different altitudes represent distinctive performances when they are participating in forwarding. In this paper, we consider the cooperative mechanism of relay satellites deployed in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and LEO according to their different transport performances and orbital characteristics. To take full advantage of the transmission resource of different kinds of cooperative relays, we propose a multiple access and bandwidth resource allocation strategy for GEO relay, in which the relay can receive and transmit simultaneously according to channel characteristics of space-based systems. Moreover, a time-slot allocation strategy that is based on the slotted time division multiple access is introduced for the system with LEO relays. Based on the queueing theoretic formulation, the stability of the proposed systems and protocols is analyzed and the maximum stable throughput region is derived as well, which provides the guidance for the design of the system optimal control. Simulation results exhibit multiple factors that affect the stable throughput and verify the theoretical analysis.