Satellite Communications with 5G, B5G, and 6G: Challenges and Prospects

Satellite communications, pivotal for global connectivity, are increasingly converging with cutting-edge mobile networks, notably 5G, B5G, and 6G. This amalgamation heralds the promise of universal, high-velocity communication, yet it is not without its challenges. Paramount concerns encompass spectrum allocation, the harmonization of network architectures, and inherent latency issues in satellite transmissions. Potential mitigations, such as dynamic spectrum sharing and the deployment of edge computing, are explored as viable solutions. Looking ahead, the advent of quantum communications within satellite frameworks and the integration of AI spotlight promising research trajectories. These advancements aim to foster a seamless and synergistic coexistence between satellite communications and next-gen mobile networks.

Satellite and high altitude platform-based inter-vehicle communications in vast and desolate areas

In order to solve the problem of inter-vehicle communication （IVC） in vast and desolate areas such as the desert and the Gobi, two vehicle network models are proposed. One is based on satellite communication and the other is based on high altitude platform （ HAP ） communication. The system outline and networking modes of the two models are described. In the satellite communication based model, all the vehicles are equipped with vehicle-bone satellite communication on the move terminals and the communication signals between vehicles are forwarded by satellite. In the high altitude platform-based model, the HAPs are equipped with base station facilities to form aerial base stations, and vehicles can communicate with each other via common terrestrial mobile communication devices. Some key parameters such as path loss, link loss and system capacity are also computed. The analysis shows that both the two models can satisfy the requirement of IVC in the descriptive environment.

Cooperative User-Scheduling and Resource Allocation Optimization for Intelligent Reflecting Surface Enhanced LEO Satellite Communication

Lower Earth Orbit(LEO) satellite becomes an important part of complementing terrestrial communication due to its lower orbital altitude and smaller propagation delay than Geostationary satellite. However, the LEO satellite communication system cannot meet the requirements of users when the satellite-terrestrial link is blocked by obstacles. To solve this problem, we introduce Intelligent reflect surface(IRS) for improving the achievable rate of terrestrial users in LEO satellite communication. We investigated joint IRS scheduling, user scheduling, power and bandwidth allocation(JIRPB) optimization algorithm for improving LEO satellite system throughput.The optimization problem of joint user scheduling and resource allocation is formulated as a non-convex optimization problem. To cope with this problem, the nonconvex optimization problem is divided into resource allocation optimization sub-problem and scheduling optimization sub-problem firstly. Second, we optimize the resource allocation sub-problem via alternating direction multiplier method(ADMM) and scheduling sub-problem via Lagrangian dual method repeatedly.Third, we prove that the proposed resource allocation algorithm based ADMM approaches sublinear convergence theoretically. Finally, we demonstrate that the proposed JIRPB optimization algorithm improves the LEO satellite communication system throughput.

Covert LEO Satellite Communication Aided by Generative Adversarial Network Based Cooperative UAV Jamming

In this paper,we study the covert performance of the downlink low earth orbit(LEO)satellite communication,where the unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)is employed as a cooperative jammer.To maximize the covert rate of the LEO satellite transmission,a multi-objective problem is formulated to jointly optimize the UAV’s jamming power and trajectory.For practical consideration,we assume that the UAV can only have partial environmental information,and can’t know the detection threshold and exact location of the eavesdropper on the ground.To solve the multiobjective problem,we propose the data-driven generative adversarial network(DD-GAN)based method to optimize the power and trajectory of the UAV,in which the sample data is collected by using genetic algorithm(GA).Simulation results show that the jamming solution of UAV generated by DD-GAN can achieve an effective trade-off between covert rate and probability of detection errors when only limited prior information is obtained.

A Joint Encryption and Error Correction Method Used in Satellite Communications

Due to the ubiquitous open air links and complex electromagnetic environment in the satellite communications,how to ensure the security and reliability of the information through the satellite communications is an urgent problem.This paper combines the AES(Advanced Encryption Standard) with LDPC(Low Density Parity Check Code) to design a secure and reliable error correction method — SEEC(Satellite Encryption and Error Correction).This method selects the LDPC codes,which is suitable for satellite communications,and uses the AES round key to control the encoding process,at the same time,proposes a new algorithm of round key generation.Based on a fairly good property in error correction in satellite communications,the method improves the security of the system,achieves a shorter key size,and then makes the key management easier.Eventually,the method shows a great error correction capability and encryption effect by the MATLAB simulation.

From the Far Side of the Moon: Delay/DisruptionTolerant Networking Communications via Lunar Satellites

Delay/Disruption-Tolerant Networking(DTN) originated from research on Interplanetary Internet and still today space applications are the most important application field and research stimulus. This paper investigates DTN communications between the Earth and the far side of the Moon, by means of a lunar orbiter acting as relay. After an introductory part, the paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the DTN performance that can be achieved on the identified communication scenario. The focus is on the evaluation of the stateof-the-art ability of Interplanetary Overlay Network(ION), the NASA DTN implementation of Bundle Protocol(BP) and Contact Graph Routing(CGR), to meet the many challenges of the space communication scenario investigated(and more generally of a future interplaynetary Internet): intermittent links, network partitioning, scarce bandwidth, long delays, dynamic routing, handling of high priority and emergency traffic, interoperability issues. A study of security threats and Bundle Security Protocol(BSP) countermeasures complete the work.The many results provided, confirm the essential role of DTN in future space communications.

Multi-Objective Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Time-Frequency Resource Allocation for Multi-Beam Satellite Communications

Resource allocation is an important problem influencing the service quality of multi-beam satellite communications.In multi-beam satellite communications, the available frequency bandwidth is limited, users requirements vary rapidly, high service quality and joint allocation of multi-dimensional resources such as time and frequency are required. It is a difficult problem needs to be researched urgently for multi-beam satellite communications, how to obtain a higher comprehensive utilization rate of multidimensional resources, maximize the number of users and system throughput, and meet the demand of rapid allocation adapting dynamic changed the number of users under the condition of limited resources, with using an efficient and fast resource allocation algorithm.In order to solve the multi-dimensional resource allocation problem of multi-beam satellite communications, this paper establishes a multi-objective optimization model based on the maximum the number of users and system throughput joint optimization goal, and proposes a multi-objective deep reinforcement learning based time-frequency two-dimensional resource allocation(MODRL-TF) algorithm to adapt dynamic changed the number of users and the timeliness requirements. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm could provide higher comprehensive utilization rate of multi-dimensional resources,and could achieve multi-objective joint optimization,and could obtain better timeliness than traditional heuristic algorithms, such as genetic algorithm(GA)and ant colony optimization algorithm(ACO).

LSTM-Based Adaptive Modulation and Coding for Satellite-to-Ground Communications

Satellite communication develops rapidly due to its global coverage and is unrestricted to the ground environment. However, compared with the traditional ground TCP/IP network, a satellite-to-ground link has a more extensive round trip time(RTT) and a higher packet loss rate,which takes more time in error recovery and wastes precious channel resources. Forward error correction(FEC) is a coding method that can alleviate bit error and packet loss, but how to achieve high throughput in the dynamic network environment is still a significant challenge. Inspired by the deep learning technique, this paper proposes a signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) based adaptive coding modulation method. This method can maximize channel utilization while ensuring communication quality and is suitable for satellite-to-ground communication scenarios where the channel state changes rapidly. We predict the SNR using the long short-term memory(LSTM) network that considers the past channel status and real-time global weather. Finally, we use the optimal matching rate(OMR) to evaluate the pros and cons of each method quantitatively. Extensive simulation results demonstrate that our proposed LSTM-based method outperforms the state-of-the-art prediction algorithms significantly in mean absolute error(MAE). Moreover, it leads to the least spectrum waste.

Beam Position and Beam Hopping Design for LEO Satellite Communications

The numbers of beam positions(BPs)and time slots for beam hopping(BH)dominate the latency of LEO satellite communications.Aiming at minimizing the number of BPs subject to a predefined requirement on the radius of BP,a low-complexity user density-based BP design scheme is proposed,where the original problem is decomposed into two subproblems,with the first one to find the sparsest user and the second one to determine the corresponding best BP.In particular,for the second subproblem,a user selection and smallest BP radius algorithm is proposed,where the nearby users are sequentially selected until the constraint of the given BP radius is no longer satisfied.These two subproblems are iteratively solved until all the users are selected.To further reduce the BP radius,a duplicated user removal algorithm is proposed to decrease the number of the users covered by two or more BPs.Aiming at minimizing the number of time slots subject to the no co-channel interference(CCI)constraint and the traffic demand constraint,a low-complexity CCI-free BH design scheme is proposed,where the BPs having difficulty in satisfying the constraints are considered to be illuminated in priory.Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Study of High-Temperature Superconductor Diplexers for Satellite Communications

The high-temperature superconductor （HTSC） resonator and diplexer are simulated by full-wave tools. A newly developed miniature HTSC diplexer is designed and fabricated on double sided YBa2Cu3O7 （YBCO） film （YBCO/LaAlO3/YBCO）, the thickness of which is 400 nm for YBCO and 0.5 mm for the LaAlO3. The measured results show a good agreement with the simulation. The volume and mass of the diplexers are greatly reduced by miniaturized configuration.

Robust Authentication and Session Key Agreement Protocol for Satellite Communications

Satellite networks are recognized as the most essential communication infrastructures in the world today,which complement land networks and provide valuable services for their users.Extensive coverage and service stability of these networks have increased their popularity.Since eavesdropping and active intrusion in satellite communications are much easier than in terrestrial networks,securing satellite communications is vital.So far,several protocols have been proposed for authentication and key exchange of satellite communications,but none of them fullymeet the security requirements.In this paper,we examine one of these protocols and identify its security vulnerabilities.Moreover,we propose a robust and secure authentication and session key agreement protocol using the elliptic curve cryptography(ECC).We show that the proposed protocol meets common security requirements and is resistant to known security attacks.Moreover,we prove that the proposed scheme satisfies the security features using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications(AVISPA)formal verification tool and On-the fly Model-Checker(OFMC)and ATtack SEarcher(ATSE)model checkers.We have also proved the security of the session key exchange of our protocol using theReal orRandom(RoR)model.Finally,the comparison of our scheme with similar methods shows its superiority.

Integrated Performance Optimization of Satellite Communications Constellation

In order to attain better communications performance rather than just expand coverage and save system cost,criteria related to the communications quality and capacity are extracted and revised to build an integrated performance metric system which aims to effectively guide the satellite communications constellation design.These performance metrics together with the system cost serve as the multiple objectives whilst the coverage requirement is regarded as the basic constraint in the optimization of the constellation configuration design applying a revised NSGA-II algorithm.The Pareto hyper-volumes lead to the best configuration schemes which achieve better integrated system performance compared with the conventional design results based merely on coverage and cost.

An L-strip fed stacked patch antenna for maritime satellite communications

A practical antenna has been designed and developed for INMARSAT mobile satellite communications. The design uses low cost materials such as foam and copper foil to create a stacked microstrip antenna array. Several techniques were adopted to enhance the impedance bandwidth and axial ratio bandwidth. The final design parameters were optimized by EM simulation. Finally, the L-strip fed six-element stacked microstrip antenna array was constructed and tested. Simulated and measured results show that in the whole INMARSAT work band, the VSWR of the antenna is less than 1.6, its antenna gain is higher than 15dB and wide-angle axial ratio （AR） 3dB is more than 21°. The antenna has been successfully used with a HNS 9201 terminal.

Robust or nonrobust: On MC-DS-CDMA acquisition in LEO satellite communications

Low Earth Orbit(LEO)satellite communications can provide global coverage in the sixth generation communication(6G)networks.To combat the strong Partial Band Interferences(PBIs)and multipath fading in LEO satellite communication systems,the Multicarrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access(MC-DS-CDMA)technique is a promising alternative to the traditional Single-carrier Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access(SC-DS-CDMA)system for its advantages of high bandwidth efficiency,superior interference rejection capability,and low complexity of parallel signal processing.However,limited studies have been conducted on the performance analysis of MC-DS-CDMA acquisition systems in the presence of a large Doppler shift,a unique characteristic of LEO satellite communications.To bridge this gap,we investigate the performance of MC-DS-CDMA systems with two-dimensional acquisition and noncoherent equal gain combining over Rician fading channel in the presence of the Doppler shift and PBIs.The performance metrics are detection probability and Mean Square Error(MSE)of the Doppler factor and delay.Specifically,we derive the closed-form expressions for the MSE and the Probability Density Function(PDF)of the acquisition decision variable and obtain the detection probability.We conduct extensive numerical experiments to verify the theoretical analysis and performance gain of MC-DSCDMA over the SC-DS-CDMA.The results show that MC-DS-CDMA with two-dimensional acquisition is more robust to multipath Rician fading than SC-DS-CDMA.Moreover,MC-DS-CDMA outperforms SC-DS-CDMA regarding the detection probability and MSE when combating the strong PBIs.

AN ADAPTIVE FEC SCHEME FOR Ka-BAND SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

Rain attenuation is the major problem for Ka-band satellite communications, and the fading due to rain can be well described by a lognormally distributed, first-order auto regressive model. Forward Error-control Coding (FEC) techniques can be used to reduce the effect of the rain attenuation, but the use of FEC causes a reduction in the bandwidth efficiency.In order to increase the bandwidth efficiency as well as maintain high link availability, an Adaptive Forward Error-control Coding (AFEC) scheme with rain fading prediction is proposed and analyzed in this paper. The results show that AFEC offers a good trade-off between link availability and bandwidth efficiency.

A NOVEL MODULATION FOR MOBILE SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS

It is a challenging problem to design a high performance modulation for mobile satellite communications due to the limited power and bandwidth resource.The paper improves Feher patented Quadrature Phase Shift Keying(FQPSK) by redefining the waveform.The novel FQPSK,with con-stant envelope,can be used to improve the power efficiency and frequency efficiency of mobile satellite communication.The study shows that the improved FQPSK outperforms conventional FQPSK over AWGN and is immune to the non-linearity of high power amplifier.At last,the impact of flat fading and multi-path fading of channel on the BER performance of improved modulation is analyzed.

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.

On Satellite Communications Course Reform in Universities of 211 Project

Satellite communications is not only a key technical for students who major in information subject must know well, but also a satellite cultural background course at the information age. Based on the current situation and characteristics of Universities of 211 Project, such as teaching objectives, course settings, and too much categories of professional courses but class hour reduced. From the point of view of teaching contents and methods, the reform contents and the characteristic requirements of the satellite communications course are presented, especially, the proposed reform to satellite communications materials and experimental content can meet the needs of the new times.

The Impact of Satellite Communications on Environmental Hazard Control: Tool for the Realization of African Union Agenda 2063 Aspirations

Africa is a developing economy and as such, emphasis has been placed on the achievement of revolutionary goals that will place her on a similar rank as the developed economies. Pertaining to this objective, Heads of States and government all over Africa instigated the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063, which is a framework put in place to achieve a continental transformation over the next 40 years. The use of satellites has been proven to be a major influence on economic growth since it facilitates the exchange of information. Environmental hazards such as climate changes, pollution, and inefficient waste management can be classified as one of the drawbacks to achieving this economic growth we hope to accomplish. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and examine satellite communication as a tool for the attainment of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa by means of combatting environmental hazards in the continent.