Characteristics and Applications of Common-Track Constellation in One Orbit Plane

Common-track constellation is a special kind of constellation, all ground tracks of satellites are in one track. With recursive orbit or quasi-recursive orbit, the ground track of the constellation is a closed loop with a repeating track. In particular, if the constellation is in one orbit plane, the constellation can meet the requirement for a multi-satellite launch mission and fast satellite-satellite link establishment. The characteristics and coverage properties of a common-track constellation in one orbit plane are studied in this paper. The simulation results show that a common-track constellation in one orbit plane can provide favorable coverage to a target station in the polar areas.

Progress of Radiation Belt Exploration by a Constellation of Small Satellites TGCSS/SGRB, COSPAR

A COnstellation of Radiation BElt Survey(CORBES)program is proposed by the Sub-Group on Radiation Belt(SGRB)of TGCSS,COSPAR.To address the open qustions about the dynamics of the Earth’s radiation belt,CORBES mission would use a constellation of small/CubeSats to take an ultra-fast survey of the Earth’s radiation belt.The concept,science objectives and preliminary technical design of CORBES are introduced.This mission is an international multilateral cooperation mission coordinated by COSPAR.The SGRB Science Activities and COSPAR HQs Coordinate Activities on CORBES are summaried.

Thermosphere joint observations by TM-1 constellations and Swarm-B during the April 2023 geomagnetic storm

The response of thermosphere density to geomagnetic storms is a complicated physical process.Multi-satellite joint observations at the same altitude but different local times(LTs)are important for understanding this process;however,until now such studies have hardly been done.In this report,we analyze in detail the thermosphere mass density response at 510 km during the April 23−24,2023 geomagnetic storm using data derived from the TM-1(TianMu-1)satellite constellation and Swarm-B satellites.The observations show that there were significant LT differences in the hemispheric asymmetry of the thermosphere mass density during the geomagnetic storm.Densities observed by satellite TM02 at nearly 11.3 and 23.3 LTs were larger in the northern hemisphere than in the southern.The TM04 dayside density observations appear to be almost symmetrical with respect to the equator,though southern hemisphere densities on the nightside were higher.Swarm-B data exhibit near-symmetry between the hemispheres.In addition,the mass density ratio results show that TM04 nightside observations,TM02 data,and Swarm-B data all clearly show stronger effects in the southern hemisphere,except for TM04 on the dayside,which suggest hemispheric near-symmetry.The South-North density enhancement differences in TM02 and TM04 on dayside can reach 130%,and Swarm-B data even achieve 180%difference.From the observations of all three satellites,large-scale traveling atmospheric disturbances(TADs)first appear at high latitudes and propagate to low latitudes,thereby disturbing the atmosphere above the equator and even into the opposite hemisphere.NRLMSISE00 model simulations were also performed on this geomagnetic storm.TADs are absent in the NRLMSISE00 simulations.The satellite data suggest that NRLMSISE00 significantly underestimates the magnitude of the density response of the thermosphere during geomagnetic storms,especially at high latitudes in both hemispheres.Therefore,use of the density simulation of NRLMSISE00 may lead to large errors in satellite drag calculations and orbit predictions.We suggest that the high temporal and spatial resolution of direct density observations by the TM-1 constellation satellites can provide an autonomous and reliable basis for correction and improvement of atmospheric models.

A Parallel Discrete Event Simulation Engine for the Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Constellation Networks

Low-Earth-Orbit satellite constellation networks(LEO-SCN)can provide low-cost,largescale,flexible coverage wireless communication services.High dynamics and large topological sizes characterize LEO-SCN.Protocol development and application testing of LEO-SCN are challenging to carry out in a natural environment.Simulation platforms are a more effective means of technology demonstration.Currently available simulators have a single function and limited simulation scale.There needs to be a simulator for full-featured simulation.In this paper,we apply the parallel discrete-event simulation technique to the simulation of LEO-SCN to support large-scale complex system simulation at the packet level.To solve the problem that single-process programs cannot cope with complex simulations containing numerous entities,we propose a parallel mechanism and algorithms LP-NM and LP-YAWNS for synchronization.In the experiment,we use ns-3 to verify the acceleration ratio and efficiency of the above algorithms.The results show that our proposed mechanism can provide parallel simulation engine support for the LEO-SCN.

Segment routing for traffic engineering and effective recovery in low-earth orbit satellite constellations

Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Constellations(LEO-SCs)provide global,high-speed,and low latency Internet access services,which bridges the digital divide in the remote areas.As inter-satellite links are not supported in initial deployment(i.e.the Starlink),the communication between satellites is based on ground stations with radio frequency signals.Due to the rapid movement of satellites,this hybrid topology of LEO-SCs and ground stations is time-varying,which imposes a major challenge to uninterrupted service provisioning and network management.In this paper,we focus on solving two notable problems in such a ground station-assisted LEO-SC topology,i.e.,traffic engineering and fast reroute,to guarantee that the packets are forwarded in a balanced and uninterrupted manner.Specifically,we employ segment routing to support the arbitrary path routing in LEO-SCs.To solve the traffic engineering problem,we proposed two source routings with traffic splitting algorithms,Delay-Bounded Traffic Splitting(DBTS)and DBTS+,where DBTS equally splits a flow and DBTS+favors shorter paths.Simu-lation results show that DBTS+can achieve about 30%lower maximum satellite load at the cost of about 10%more delay.To guarantee the fast recovery of failures,two fast reroute mechanisms,Loop-Free Alternate(LFA)and LFA+,are studied,where LFA pre-computes an alternate next-hop as a backup while LFA+finds a 2-segment backup path.We show that LFA+can increase the percentage of protection coverage by about 15%.

Dynamic access task scheduling of LEO constellation based on space-based distributed computing

A dynamic multi-beam resource allocation algorithm for large low Earth orbit(LEO)constellation based on on-board distributed computing is proposed in this paper.The allocation is a combinatorial optimization process under a series of complex constraints,which is important for enhancing the matching between resources and requirements.A complex algorithm is not available because that the LEO on-board resources is limi-ted.The proposed genetic algorithm(GA)based on two-dimen-sional individual model and uncorrelated single paternal inheri-tance method is designed to support distributed computation to enhance the feasibility of on-board application.A distributed system composed of eight embedded devices is built to verify the algorithm.A typical scenario is built in the system to evalu-ate the resource allocation process,algorithm mathematical model,trigger strategy,and distributed computation architec-ture.According to the simulation and measurement results,the proposed algorithm can provide an allocation result for more than 1500 tasks in 14 s and the success rate is more than 91%in a typical scene.The response time is decreased by 40%com-pared with the conditional GA.

Kullback-Leibler Divergence Based ISAC Constellation and Beamforming Design in the Presence of Clutter

Integrated sensing and communication(ISAC)is regarded as a pivotal technology for 6G communication.In this paper,we employ Kullback-Leibler divergence(KLD)as the unified performance metric for ISAC systems and investigate constellation and beamforming design in the presence of clutters.In particular,the constellation design problem is solved via the successive convex approximation(SCA)technique,and the optimal beamforming in terms of sensing KLD is proven to be equivalent to maximizing the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio(SINR)of echo signals.Numerical results demonstrate the tradeoff between sensing and communication performance under different parameter setups.Additionally,the beampattern generated by the proposed algorithm achieves significant clutter suppression and higher SINR of echo signals compared with the conventional scheme.

Uniquely Decomposable Constellation Group-Based Sparse Vector Coding for Short Packet Communications

Sparse vector coding(SVC)is emerging as a potential technology for short packet communications.To further improve the block error rate(BLER)performance,a uniquely decomposable constellation group-based SVC(UDCG-SVC)is proposed in this article.Additionally,in order to achieve an optimal BLER performance of UDCG-SVC,a problem to optimize the coding gain of UDCG-based superimposed constellation is formulated.Given the energy of rotation constellations in UDCG,this problem is solved by converting it into finding the maximized minimum Euclidean distance of the superimposed constellation.Simulation results demonstrate the validness of our derivation.We also find that the proposed UDCGSVC has better BLER performance compared to other SVC schemes,especially under the high order modulation scenarios.

Local-State Routing in Satellite Constellation Networks from the Perspective of Complex Network

Routing algorithms in satellite constellation networks usually make use of the local state information to adapt to the topology and traffic dynamics,since it’s difficult to obtain the global states in time due to the spatial large-scale feature of constellation networks.Furthermore,they use different range of local states and give these states distinct weights.However,the behind design criterion is ambiguous and often based on experience.This paper discusses the problem from the perspective of complex network.A universal local-state routing model with tunable parameters is presented to generalize the common characteristics of local-state routing algorithms for satellite constellation networks.Based on this,the impacts of localstate routing algorithms on performance and the correlation between routing and traffic dynamics are analyzed in detail.Among them,the tunable parameters,the congestion propagation process,the critical packet sending rate,and the network robustness are discussed respectively.Experimental results show that routing algorithms can achieve a satisfactory performance by maintaining a limited state awareness capability and obtaining the states in a range below the average path length.This provides a valuable design basis for routing algorithms in satellite constellation networks.

A Performance Evaluation Platform for Mega Satellite Constellation Network

With the rapid development of satellite technology, mega satellite constellations have become a research hotspot. A large number of related techniques have been developed on orbit topology, network routing, energy balance and resource control. However, it is difficult to accurately compare the performance of similar studies due to differences in the means of validation. Especially for invulnerability studies in many military applications, a unified evaluation system is essential. This paper proposes a network evaluation system for mega satellite constellations. Evaluation parameters include orbit topology, communication network, energy balance and invulnerability. Different application algorithms and traffic models were used to validate the specific system. .

A Unified Bit-to-Symbol Mapping for Generalized Constellation Modulation

Gray mapping is a well-known way to improve the performance of regular constellation modulation,but it is challenging to be applied directly for irregular alternative.To address this issue,in this paper,a unified bit-to-symbol mapping method is designed for generalized constellation modulation(i.e.,regular and irregular shaping).The objective of the proposed approach is to minimize the average bit error probability by reducing the hamming distance(HD)of symbols with larger values of pairwise error probability.Simulation results show that the conventional constellation modulation(i.e.,phase shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation(QAM)with the proposed mapping rule yield the same performance as that of classical gray mapping.Moreover,the recently developed golden angle modulation(GAM)with the proposed mapping method is capable of providing around1 d B gain over the conventional mapping counterpart and offers comparable performance to QAM with Gray mapping.

Low Altitude Satellite Constellation for Futuristic Aerial-Ground Communications

This paper discusses the significance and prospects of low altitude small satellite aerial vehicles to ensure smooth aerial-ground communications for next-generation broadband networks.To achieve the generic goals of fifthgeneration and beyondwireless networks,the existing aerial network architecture needs to be revisited.The detailed architecture of low altitude aerial networks and the challenges in resource management have been illustrated in this paper.Moreover,we have studied the coordination between promising communication technologies and low altitude aerial networks to provide robust network coverage.We talk about the techniques that can ensure userfriendly control and monitoring of the low altitude aerial networks to bring forth wireless broadband connectivity to a new dimension.In the end,we highlight the future research directions of aerial-ground communications in terms of access technologies,machine learning,compressed sensing,and quantum communications.

Constellation玻切机使用中的维护与保养

玻切机是用于眼前段(超声乳化白内障吸出术和白内障摘除术)和眼后段(玻璃体视网膜术)手术不可或缺的基本设备,也是最昂贵的手术设备之一。最新一代Constellation玻切机自2010年上市以来,一直以高安全、高效率、高智能化占居全球玻切设备市场第一,受到了广大医护人员的欢迎。Constellation玻切机的正常运行直接影响着手术的效率和效果,所以对Constellation玻切机使用中的维护与保养显得尤为重要。

Satellite Constellation Design with Adaptively Continuous Ant System Algorithm

The ant system algorithm （ASA） has proved to be a novel meta-heuristic algorithm to solve many multivariable problems. In this paper, the earth coverage of satellite constellation is analyzed and a n ＋ 1^ -fold coverage rate is put forward to evaluate the coverage performance of a satellite constellation. An optimization model of constellation parameters is established on the basis of the coverage performance. As a newly developed method, ASA can be applied to optimize the constellation parameters. In order to improve the ASA, a rule for adaptive number of ants is proposed, by which the search range is obviously enlarged and the convergence speed increased. Simulation results have shown that the ASA is more quick and efficient than other methodV211.71s.

Sensor management of LEO constellation based on covariance control

This paper studies the multi-sensor management problem for low earth orbit(LEO) infrared warning constellation used to track a midcourse missile. A covariance control approach, which selects sensor combinations or subset based on the difference between the desired covariance matrix and the actual covariance of each target, is used for sensor management, including some matrix metrics to measure the differentia between two covariance matrices. Besides, to meet the requirements of the space based warning system, the original covariance control approach is improved. Simulation results demonstrate that the covariance control approach is able to provide a better tracking performance by providing a well-designed desired covariance and balance tracking performance goals with system demands.

COVERAGE PERFORMANCES ANALYSIS ON COMBINED-GEO-IGSO SATELLITE CONSTELLATION

The Combined-GEO-IGSO constellation is the combination of Geostationary Earth Orbit(GEO) satellite and Inclining GeoSynchronous Orbit(IGSO) satellite.The Combined-GEO-IGSO constellation can integrate the advantages of GEO and IGSO to achieve regional coverage.In order to discuss the performances of the Combined-GEO-IGSO constellation,the performances of coverage,elevation,diversity,and transmission are simulated in China and surrounding regions by Satellite Tool Kit(STK).The simulation results show that:the combined constellation can reach higher multi-satellite coverage and higher communication elevation in China and surrounding areas;the Doppler shift,delay,and propagation loss of this constellation have little impact on the system.As regional coverage constellation,the Combined-GEO-IGSO is feasible.

Analysis of detection capabilities of LEO reconnaissance satellite constellation based on coverage performance

In the design problem of low earth orbit(LEO) reconnaissance satellite constellation, optimization of coverage performance is the design goal in most current methods. However,in the using process, the user only concerns with the detection capabilities rather than coverage performance. To establish the relationship between these two aspects, the reconnaissance processes of normal stochastic targets are considered and the mathematic models of detection processes are built. The indicators of coverage performance are used to evaluate the detection probability and expectation of detection time delay, which are important factors in reconnaissance constellation estimation viewed from military intelligence discipline. The conclusions confirmed by the final simulation will be useful in LEO reconnaissance constellation design, optimization and evaluation.

Information gain based sensor search scheduling for low-earth orbit constellation estimation

This paper addresses the problem of sensor search scheduling in the complicated space environment faced by the low-earth orbit constellation.Several search scheduling methods based on the commonly used information gain are compared via simulations first.Then a novel search scheduling method in the scenarios of uncertainty observation is proposed based on the global Shannon information gain and beta density based uncertainty model.Simulation results indicate that the beta density model serves a good option for solving the problem of target acquisition in the complicated space environments.

Satellite Constellation Design with Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm for Regional Terrestrial Satellite Network

Constellations design for regional terrestrial-satellite network can strengthen the coverage for incomplete terrestrial cellular network. In this paper, a regional satellite constellation design scheme with multiple feature points and multiple optimization indicators is proposed by comprehensively considering multi-objective optimization and genetic algorithm, and "the Belt and Road" model is presented in the way of dividing over 70 nations into three regular target areas. Following this, we formulate the optimization model and devise a multi-objective genetic algorithm suited for the regional area with the coverage rate under simulating, computing and determining. Meanwhile, the total number of satellites in the constellation is reduced by calculating the ratio of actual coverage of a single-orbit constellation and the area of targets. Moreover, the constellations' performances of the proposed scheme are investigated with the connection of C++ and Satellite Tool Kit(STK). Simulation results show that the designed satellite constellations can achieve a good coverage of the target areas.

Polar-Coded Modulation Based on the Amplitude Phase Shift Keying Constellations

In this paper, we investigate the polarization effect of the amplitude phase shift keying(APSK) constellations. We find that the polarization effect of the APSK constellations is affected by the bit mapping and the bit loading. Traditionally, the Gray mapping is usually adopted in APSK constellations. Based on the given Gray mapping, we firstly propose the bit interleaved coded modulation polar-APSK(BICM-PA) scheme, which neglects the correlations between the bit levels by using the bit interleaver. In the BICM-PA scheme, a new metric called cumulative Bhattacharyya parameter is introduced to optimize the bit loading of the APSK constellations under the Gray mapping. Second, the multilevel coded modulation polar-APSK(MLCM-PA) is proposed to further improve the performance. A twostage optimization approach is adopted to select the bit mapping and the bit loading in the MLCM-PA scheme. The semi-set partitioning mapping is introduced to achieve a better system performance in the MLCM-PA scheme. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of all the proposed metrics. In addition to this, BICM-PA and MLCM-PA both outperform the coded modulation Turbo-APSK scheme up to 1 dB.