Abstract
With a constant increase in the number of deployed satellites, it is expected that the current fixed spectrum allocation in satellite communications (SATCOM) will migrate towards more dynamic and flexible spectrum sharing rules. This migration is accelerated due to the introduction of new terrestrial services in bands used by satellite services. Therefore, it is important to design dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) solutions that can maximize spectrum utilization and support coexistence between a high number of satellite and terrestrial networks operating in the same spectrum bands. Several DSS solutions for SATCOM exist, however, they are mainly centralized solutions and might lead to scalability issues with increasing satellite density. This paper describes two distributed DSS techniques for efficient spectrum sharing across multiple satellite systems (geostationary and non-geostationary satellites with earth stations in motion) and terrestrial networks, with a focus on increasing spectrum utilization and minimizing the impact of interference between satellite and terrestrial segments. Two relevant SATCOM use cases have been selected for dynamic spectrum sharing: the opportunistic sharing of satellite and terrestrial systems in (i) downlink Ka-band and (ii) uplink Ka-band. For the two selected use cases, the performance of proposed DSS techniques has been analyzed and compared to static spectrum allocation. Notable performance gains have been obtained.
Highlights
In the present day, the spectrum usage of satellite communications (SATCOM) is tightly regulated, leading to static and fixed spectrum allocation
Simulations were performed in a satellite environment based on the components and functionalities being reused and extended from Satellite Network Simulator 3 (SNS3) [31]
The current static and regulated spectrum allocation in SATCOM leads to underutilization of the spectrum
Summary
The spectrum usage of satellite communications (SATCOM) is tightly regulated (mainly based on planned spatial and frequency separation), leading to static and fixed spectrum allocation. Such an approach works well, as long as the number of satellite operators and satellites is limited, and the bandwidth requirements of the services are not too high. SpaceX as of 24 October 2020 has launched 895 Starlink satellites. They plan to launch nearly 12,000 satellites with a possible extension to 42,000 satellites [1]. Fixed spectrum assignment will eventually yield poor performance either due to interference or poor spectrum utilization
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