Service Function Chain Migration in LEO Satellite Networks

With the advancements of software defined network(SDN)and network function virtualization(NFV),service function chain(SFC)placement becomes a crucial enabler for flexible resource scheduling in low earth orbit(LEO)satellite networks.While due to the scarcity of bandwidth resources and dynamic topology of LEO satellites,the static SFC placement schemes may cause performance degradation,resource waste and even service failure.In this paper,we consider migration and establish an online migration model,especially considering the dynamic topology.Given the scarcity of bandwidth resources,the model aims to maximize the total number of accepted SFCs while incurring as little bandwidth cost of SFC transmission and migration as possible.Due to its NP-hardness,we propose a heuristic minimized dynamic SFC migration(MDSM)algorithm that only triggers the migration procedure when new SFCs are rejected.Simulation results demonstrate that MDSM achieves a performance close to the upper bound with lower complexity.

Progress and Achievements of Fengyun Meteorological Satellite Program since 2022

Fengyun meteorological satellites have undergone a series of significant developments over the past 50 years.Two generations,four types,and 21 Fengyun satellites have been developed and launched,with 9 currently operational in orbit.The data obtained from Fengyun satellites is employed in a multitude of applications,including weather forecasting,meteorological disaster prevention and reduction,climate change,global environmental monitoring,and space weather.These data products and services are made available to the global community,resulting in tangible social and economic benefits.In 2023,two Fengyun meteorological satellites were successfully launched.This report presents an overview of the two recently launched Fengyun satellites and currently in orbit Fengyun satellites,including an evaluation of their remote sensing instruments since 2022.Additionally,it addresses the subject of Fengyun satellite data archiving,data services,application services,international cooperation,and supporting activities.Furthermore,the development prospects have been outlined.

6G Service Coverage with Mega Satellite Constellations

The rapid development and continuous updating of the mega satellite constellation(MSC)have brought new visions for the future 6G coverage extension, where the global seamless signal coverage can realize ubiquitous services for user terminals. However, global traffic demands present nonuniform characteristics. Therefore, how to ensure the on-demand service coverage for the specific traffic demand, i.e., the ratio of traffic density to service requirement per unit area, is the core issue of 6G wireless coverage extension exploiting the MSC. To this regard, this paper first discusses the open challenges to reveal the future direction of 6G wireless coverage extension from the perspective of key factors affecting service coverage performance, i.e., the network access capacity, space segment capacity and their matchingrelationship. Furthermore, we elaborate on the key factors affecting effective matchings of the aforementioned aspects, thereby improving service coverage capability.

Service Function Chain in Small Satellite-Based Software Defined Satellite Networks

Software Defined Satellite Networks(SDSN) are proposed to solve the problems in traditional satellite networks, such as time-consuming configuration and inflexible traffic scheduling. The emerging application of small satellite and research of SDSN make it possible for satellite networks to provide flexible network services. Service Function Chain(SFC) can satisfy this need. In this paper, we are motivated to investigate applying SFC in the small satellite-based SDSN for service delivery. We introduce the structure of the multi-layer constellation-based SDSN. Then, we describe two deployment patterns of SFC in SDSN, the Multi-Domain(MD) pattern and the Satellite Formation(SF) pattern. We propose two algorithms, SFP-MD, and SFP-SF, to calculate the Service Function Path(SFP). We implement the algorithms and conduct contrast experiments in our prototype. Finally, we summarize the applicable conditions of two deployment patterns according to the experimental results in terms of hops, delay, and packet loss rate.

Prospects for Satellite Services

2018年12月5—6日,由中国航天工业科学技术咨询有限公司主办的第六届航天国际化发展论坛在北京召开。欧洲咨询公司(Euroconsult)总裁帕科姆·雷维(Pacome Revillon)在论坛上作了题为Prospects for Satellite Services的报告。报告预测卫星服务业未来走势呈现四大特征:一是航天技术与服务创新持续加速;二是机载宽带接入、自动驾驶、万物互联、万户融通等新业务模式层出不穷;三是新增私人与政府投资主体不断涌现;四是行业生态系统转型牵引未来发展。本刊将报告内容原文刊出。

Space Weather Service for Chinese Space Science Satellites

Strategic Priority Research Program on Space Science has gained remarkable achievements. Space Environment Prediction Center(SEPC) affiliated with the National Space Science Center(NSSC) has been providing space weather services and helps secure space missions. Presently, SEPC is capable to offer a variety of space weather services covering many phases of space science missions including planning, design, launch,and orbital operation. The service packages consist of space weather forecasts, warnings, and effect analysis that can be utilized to avoid potential space weather hazard or reduce the damage caused by space storms,space radiation exposure for example. Extensive solar storms that occurred over Chinese Ghost Festival(CGF)in September 2017 led to a large enhancement of the solar energetic particle flux at 1 AU, which affected the near Earth radiation environment and brought great threat to orbiting satellites. Based on the space weather service by SEPC, satellite ground support groups collaborating with the space Tracking, Telemetering and Command system(TT&C) team were able to take immediate measures to react to the CGF solar storm event.

Review and Prospect for the International Commercial Satellite Launch Services

Prosperous Satellite Communications China is the birthplace of therocket.In the twelfth century,China began creating and usingthe rocket,which was believedthe oldest vehicle in the world.Its invention and creation demon-strates the outstanding intelli-gence and ability of the ancientChinese people. The splendid ancient civiliza-tions of China and other countriesjointly carried within themselvesthe seeds of modern space tech-nology.Through unremitting ef-forts of several thousand years,people’s good wish to fly into andexplore sapce has at last cometrue.Space technology has be-come an area which uses the

A New Generation of Intelligent Mapping and Remote Sensing Scientific Test Satellite Luojia-301

With the continuous improvement of the performance and the increasing variety of optical mapping and remote sensing satellites,they have become an important support for obtaining global accurate surveying and mapping remote sensing information.At present,optical mapping and remote sensing satellites already have sub-meter spatial resolution capabilities,but there is a serious lag problem in mapping and remote sensing information services.It is urgent to develop intelligent mapping and remote sensing satellites to promote the transformation and upgrading to real-time intelligent services.Firstly,based on the three imaging systems of the optical mapping and remote sensing satellites and their realization methods and application characteristics,this paper analyzes the applicable system of the intelligent mapping and remote sensing satellites.Further,according to the application requirements of real-time,intelligence,and popularization,puts forward the design concept of integrated intelligent remote sensing satellite integrating communication,navigation,and remote sensing and focuses on the service mode and integrated function composition of intelligent remote sensing satellite.Then expounds on the performance and characteristics of the Luojia-301 satellite,a new generation of intelligent surveying and mapping remote sensing scientific test satellite.And finally summarizes and prospects the development and mission of intelligent mapping remote sensing satellites.Luojia-301 satellite integrates remote sensing and communication functions.It explores an efficient and intelligent service mode of mapping and remote sensing information from data acquisition to the application terminal and provides a real service verification platform for on-orbit processing and real-time transmission of remote sensing data based on space-ground internet,which is of great significance to the construction of China’s spatial information network.

MULTI-CLASS TRAFFIC QOS ROUTING FOR LEO SATELLITE NETWORKS

Due to the diversified demands of quality of service（QoS） in volume multimedia application, QoS routings for multiservice are becoming a research hotspot in low earth orbit（LEO） satellite networks. A novel QoS satellite routing algorithm for multi-class traffic is proposed. The goal of the routing algorithm is to provide the distinct QoS for different traffic classes and improve the utilization of network resources. Traffic is classified into three classes and allocated priorities based on their QoS requirements, respectively. A priority queuing mechanism guarantees the algorithm to work better for high-priority classes. In order to control the congestion, a blocking probability analysis model is built up based on the Markov process theory. Finally, according to the classification link-cost metrics, routings for different classes are calculated with the distinct QoS requirments and the status of network resource. Simulations verify the performance of the routing algorithm at different time and in different regions, and results demonstrate that the algorithm has great advantages in terms of the average delay and the blocking probability. Meanwhile, the robustness issue is also discussed.

Cross-Layer Design and Ant-Colony Optimization Based Routing Algorithm for Low Earth Orbit Satellite Networks

To improve the robustness of the Low Earth Orbit(LEO) satellites networks and realise load balancing, a Cross-layer design and Ant-colony optimization based Load-balancing routing algorithm for LEO Satellite Networks(CAL-LSN) is proposed in this paper. In CALLSN, mobile agents are used to gather routing information actively. CAL-LSN can utilise the information of the physical layer to make routing decision during the route construction phase. In order to achieve load balancing, CALLSN makes use of a multi-objective optimization model. Meanwhile, how to take the value of some key parameters is discussed while designing the algorithm so as to improve the reliability. The performance is measured by the packet delivery rate, the end-to-end delay, the link utilization and delay jitter. Simulation results show that CAL-LSN performs well in balancing traffic load and increasing the packet delivery rate. Meanwhile, the end-to-end delay and delay jitter performance can meet the requirement of video transmission.

Retrieval strategy for failed satellite on tether’s optimal balance swing angle

A retrieval control strategy for failed satellite,which is connected to a servicing spacecraft by a tether,is studied.The Lagrange analytical mechanics based dynamics modeling for the system composed of a servicing spacecraft,a tether and a failed satellite,is presented under the earth center inertia coordinate system,then model simplification is conducted under the assumption that the failed satellite’s mass is far smaller than the servicing spacecraft’s,meanwhile the tether’s length is far smaller than the size of the servicing spacecraft’s orbit.Analysis shows that the retrieval process is intrinsically unstable as the Coriolis force functions is a negative damping.A retrieval strategy based on only the tether’s tension is designed,resulting in the fastest retrieval speed.In the proposed strategy,firstly,the tether’s swing angle amplitude is adjusted to 45?by deploying/retrieving the tether;then the tether swings freely with fixed length until it reaches negative maximum angle–45?;finally,the tether is retrieved by the pre-assigned exponential law.For simplicity,only the coplanar situation,that the tether swings in the plane of the servicing spacecraft’s orbit,is studied.Numerical simulation verifies the effectiveness of the strategy proposed.

Update on Fengyun Meteorological Satellite Program and Development

China began to develop its meteorological satellite program since 1969.With 50-years’growing,there are 17 Fengyun(FY)meteorological satellites launched successfully.At present,seven of them are in orbit to provide the operational service,including three polar orbiting meteorological satellites and four geostationary meteorological satellites.Since last COSPAR report,no new Fengyun satellite has been launched.The information of the on-orbit FY-2 series,FY-3 series,and FY-4 series has been updated.FY-3D and FY-2H satellites accomplished the commission test and transitioned into operation in 2018.FY-2E satellite completed its service to decommission in 2019.The web-based users and Direct Broadcasting(DB)users keep growing worldwide to require the Fengyun satellite data and products.A new Mobile Application Service has been launched to Fengyun users based on the cloud technology in 2018.In this report,the international and regional co-operations to facilitate the Fengyun user community have been addressed especially.To strengthen the data service in the Belt and Road countries,the Emergency Support Mechanism of Fengyun satellite(FY_ESM)has been established since 2018.Meanwhile,a Recalibrating 30-years’archived Fengyun satellite data project has been founded since 2018.This project targets to generate the Fundamental Climate Data Record(FCDR)as a space agency response to the Global Climate Observation System(GCOS).At last,the future Fengyun program up to 2025 has been introduced as well.

Unified Modeling Approach of Kinematics, Dynamics and Control of a Free-Flying Space Robot Interacting with a Target Satellite

In this paper a unified control-oriented modeling approach is proposed to deal with the kinematics, linear and angular momentum, contact constraints and dynamics of a free-flying space robot interacting with a target satellite. This developed approach combines the dynamics of both systems in one structure along with holonomic and nonholonomic constraints in a single framework. Furthermore, this modeling allows consid-ering the generalized contact forces between the space robot end-effecter and the target satellite as internal forces rather than external forces. As a result of this approach, linear and angular momentum will form holonomic and nonholonomic constraints, respectively. Meanwhile, restricting the motion of the space robot end-effector on the surface of the target satellite will impose geometric constraints. The proposed momentum of the combined system under consideration is a generalization of the momentum model of a free-flying space robot. Based on this unified model, three reduced models are developed. The first reduced dynamics can be considered as a generalization of a free-flying robot without contact with a target satellite. In this re-duced model it is found that the Jacobian and inertia matrices can be considered as an extension of those of a free-flying space robot. Since control of the base attitude rather than its translation is preferred in certain cases, a second reduced model is obtained by eliminating the base linear motion dynamics. For the purpose of the controller development, a third reduced-order dynamical model is then obtained by finding a common solution of all constraints using the concept of orthogonal projection matrices. The objective of this approach is to design a controller to track motion trajectory while regulating the force interaction between the space robot and the target satellite. Many space missions can benefit from such a modeling system, for example, autonomous docking of satellites, rescuing satellites, and satellite servicing, where it is vital to limit the con-tact force during the robotic operation. Moreover, Inverse dynamics and adaptive inverse dynamics control-lers are designed to achieve the control objectives. Both controllers are found to be effective to meet the specifications and to overcome the un-actuation of the target satellite. Finally, simulation is demonstrated by to verify the analytical results.

Progress of Fengyun Meteorological Satellites Since 2020

China’s efforts to develop Fengyun meteorological satellites have made major strides over the past 50 years,with the polar and geostationary meteorological satellite series achieving continuously stable operation to persistently provide data and product services globally.By the end of 2021,19 Chinese self-developed Fengyun meteorological satellites have been launched successfully.Seven of them are in operation at present,the data and products are widely applied to weather analysis,numerical weather forecasting and climate prediction,as well as environment and disaster monitoring.Since the last COSPAR report,FY-4B,the first new-generation operational geostationary satellite,and FY-3E,the first early-morning orbit satellite in China’s polar-orbiting meteorological satellite family have been launched in 2021.The characteristics of the two latest satellites and the instruments onboard are addressed in this report.The status of current Fengyun Satellites,product and data service and international cooperation and supporting activities has been introduced as well.

QoS-Guaranteed Secure Multicast Routing Protocol for Satellite IP Networks Using Hierarchical Architecture

Most recent satellite network research has focused on providing routing services without considering security. In this paper, for the sake of better global coverage, we introduce a novel triple-layered satellite network architecture including Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO), and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite layers, which provides the near-global coverage with 24 hour uninterrupted over the areas varying from 75° S to 90° N. On the basis of the hierarchical architecture, we propose a QoS-guaranteed secure multicast routing protocol (QGSMRP) for satellite IP networks using the logical location concept to isolate the mobility of LEO and HEO satellites. In QGSMRP, we employ the asymmetric cryptography to secure the control messages via the pairwise key pre-distribution, and present a least cost tree (LCT) strategy to construct the multicast tree under the condition that the QoS constraints are guaranteed, aiming to minimize the tree cost. Simulation results show that the performance benefits of the proposed QGSMRP in terms of the end-to-end tree delay, the tree cost, and the failure ratio of multicasting connections by comparison with the conventional shortest path tree (SPT) strategy.

QoS-Aware Power Allocation Scheme for Relay Satellite Networks

This paper investigated a QoS-aware power allocation for relay satellite networks.For the given QoS requirements,we analyzed the signal model of relay transmission and formulated the power minimization problem which is non-convex and difficult to solve.To find the optimal solution to the considered problem,we first analyzed the optimization problem and equivalently turn it into a convex optimization problem.Then,we provided a Lagrangian dual-based method to obtain the closed-form of the power allocation and provided an iterative algorithm to the optimal solution.Moreover,we also extended the results to the cooperative transmission mode.Finally,simulation results were provided to verify the superiority of the proposed algorithm.

A Novel Probability-Based Handoff Strategy for Multimedia LEO Satellite Communications

A novel bandwidth allocation strategy and a connection admission control technique arc proposed to improve the utilization of network resource and provide the network with better quality of service （QoS） guarantees in multimedia low earth orbit （LEO） satellite networks. Our connection admission control scheme, we call the probability based dynamic channel reservation strategy （PDR）, dynamically reserves bandwidth for real-time services based on their handoff probability. And the reserved bandwidth for real-time handoff connection can also be used by new connections under a certain probability determined by the mobility characteristics and bandwidth usage of the system. Simulation results show that our scheme not only lowers the call dropping probability （CDP） for Class I real-time service but also maintains the call blocking probability （CBP） to certain degree. Consequently, the scheme can offer very low CDP for rcal-time connections while keeping resource utilization high.

A Mathematical Model for Deriving Optimal Leasing Policies of a Satellite Operator

This paper presents a dynamic mathematical model of optimal leasing allocation of satellite band-width and services in terms of expected revenues and associated risk. This tool meets the need of a Satellite Operator to determine the optimal leasing policy of the available bandwidth. A methodology and a tool for techno-economic evaluation of satellite services are developed. The output of the tool enables the policy decisions to be customized by the attitude toward risk that the company wants to apply at each time period. The study is based on inputs concerning data and services from an existing Satellite Operator and addresses a real situation. Demand and pricing data have been gathered from the international market. The decision making tool is given in the set-up of a decision tree presenting quantified alternative leasing policies and risks. Sensitivity analysis is also performed to measure the efficiency of the model.

Real‑time service performances of BDS‑3 and Galileo constellations with a linear satellite clock correction models

In order to facilitate high-precision and real-time Precise Point Positioning(PPP),the International GNSS(Global Navigation Satellite System)Service(IGS),BDS-3(BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System),and Galileo navigation satellite system(Galileo)have provided real-time satellite clock correction,which is updated at a high-frequency.However,the frequent updates pose the challenges of increasing the computational burden and compromising the timeliness of these correction parameters.To address this issue,an improved Real-Time Service(RTS)method is developed using an extrapolation algorithm and a linear model.The results indicate that a 1 h arc length of the satellite clock correction series is optimal for fitting a linear model of the RTS.With this approach,the 1 h extrapolation results for BDS-3 and Galileo are superior to 0.09 ns.Moreover,when these model coefficients are transmitted and updated at the intervals of 1,2,5,and 10 min,the corresponding PPP can converge at the centimeter-level.It is evident that these improved RTS methods outperform the current approach with high-frequency interval transmission,as they effectively mitigate the challenges associated with maintaining the timeliness of correction parameters.

A Handover Strategy in the LEO Satellite-Based Constellation Networks with ISLs

A new handover strategy named minimal-hops handover(MHH) strategy for the lowearth orbit(LEO) satellite constellations networks equipped with inter-satellite links(ISLs) is proposed.MHH strategy,which is based on the hops of the end-to-end connection paths and makes good use of theregularity of the constellation network topology,can appropriately combine the handover procedure withrouting and efficiently solve the inter-satellite handover issue.Moreover,MHH strategy can providequality of services(QoS) guarantees to some extent.The system performances of the MHH strategy,suchas time propagation delay and handover frequency,are evaluated and compared with that of otherprevious strategies.The simulation results show that MHH strategy performs better than other previoushandover strategies.