UltraStar: A Lightweight Simulator of Ultra-Dense LEO Satellite Constellation Networking for 6G

Xiaoyu Liu; Ting Ma; Zhixuan Tang; Xiaohan Qin; Haibo Zhou; Xuemin (Sherman) Shen

doi:10.1109/JAS.2023.123084

Volume 10 Issue 3

Mar. 2023

IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica

JCR Impact Factor: 11.8, Top 4% (SCI Q1)

CiteScore: 17.6, Top 3% (Q1)
Google Scholar h5-index: 77， TOP 5

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica > 2023 > 10(3): 632-645

X. Y. Liu, T. Ma, Z. X. Tang, X. H. Qin, H. B. Zhou, and X. M. Shen, “UltraStar: A lightweight simulator of ultra-dense LEO satellite constellation networking for 6G,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 632–645, Mar. 2023. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2023.123084

Citation:

X. Y. Liu, T. Ma, Z. X. Tang, X. H. Qin, H. B. Zhou, and X. M. Shen, “UltraStar: A lightweight simulator of ultra-dense LEO satellite constellation networking for 6G,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 632–645, Mar. 2023. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2023.123084

Citation:

PDF( 3086 KB)

UltraStar: A Lightweight Simulator of Ultra-Dense LEO Satellite Constellation Networking for 6G

doi: 10.1109/JAS.2023.123084

1.
School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
2.
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo N2L 3G1, Canada

Funds: This work was supported in part by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFB1806104), the Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Jiangsu Province (BK20220067), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

More Information

Author Bio:
Xiaoyu Liu (Student Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in electronic and information engineering from Xidian University, in 2021. He is currently pursuing the M.S. degree with the School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University. His research interests include space-air-ground integrated networks, network simulation, and deep reinforcement learning

Ting Ma (Member, IEEE) received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in statistics from Sichuan University, in 2013, 2016 and 2020, respectively. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with the School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University. Her current research interests include robust hypothesis testing, space-air-ground integrated network, convex optimization theory, and game theory

Zhixuan Tang (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in communication engineering from Nanjing University in 2020. She is currently pursuing the M.S. degree with the School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University. Her research interests include dynamic resource allocation, mobile edge computing, and satellite communication

Xiaohan Qin (Student Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in communication engineering from Central South University, in 2020. She is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in communications and information system with Nanjing University. Her research interests include space-air-ground integrated networks, network resource management, and game theory

Haibo Zhou (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in information and communication engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in 2014. From 2014 to 2017, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Broadband Communications Research Group, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo. He is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University. He won the 2020 Norbert Wiener Review Award of IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica. He was named the 2020 highly cited researcher in cross-field. He was a recipient of the 2019 IEEE ComSoc Asia-Pacific Outstanding Young Researcher Award. He served as an Invited Track Co-Chair for ICCC’2019, VTC-Fall’2020 and a TPC member of many IEEE conferences, including GLOBECOM, ICC, and VTC. He served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Comsoc Technically Co-Sponsored the Journal of Communications and Information Networks (JCIN) from April 2017 to March 2019, and a Guest Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology in 2021, the IEEE Internet of Things Journal in 2021, the IEEE Communications Magazine in 2016, the Hindawi International Journal of Distributed Sensor Networks in 2017, and IET Communications in 2017. He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Internet of Things Journal, the IEEE Network Magazine, the IEEE Wireless Communications Letter, and the JCIN. His research interests include resource management and protocol design in vehicular ad hoc networks, 5G/B5G wireless networks and space-air-ground integrated networks

Xuemin (Sherman) Shen (Fellow, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Rutgers University, USA, in 1990. He is a University Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. His research interests include network resource management, wireless network security, internet of things, 5G and beyond, and vehicular ad hoc and sensor networks.Dr. Shen is a registered Professional Engineer of Ontario, Canada, an Engineering Institute of Canada Fellow, a Canadian Academy of Engineering Fellow, a Royal Society of Canada Fellow, a Chinese Academy of Engineering Foreign Member, and a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society and Communications Society. Dr. Shen received the Canadian Award for Telecommunications Research from the Canadian Society of Information Theory (CSIT) in 2021, the R.A. Fessenden Award in 2019 from IEEE, Canada, Award of Merit from the Federation of Chinese Canadian Professionals (Ontario) in 2019, James Evans Avant Garde Award in 2018 from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, Joseph LoCicero Award in 2015 and Education Award in 2017 from the IEEE Communications Society, and Technical Recognition Award from Wireless Communications Technical Committee (2019) and AHSN Technical Committee (2013). He has also received the Excellent Graduate Supervision Award in 2006 from the University of Waterloo and the Premiers Research Excellence Award (PREA) in 2003 from the Province of Ontario, Canada. He served as the Technical Program Committee Chair/CoChair for IEEE Globecom 16, IEEE Infocom14, IEEE VTC10 Fall, IEEE Globecom07, and the Chair for the IEEE Communications Society Technical Committee on Wireless Communications. Dr. Shen is the President of the IEEE Communications Society. He was the Vice President for Technical & Educational Activities, Vice President for Publications, Member-at-Large on the Board of Governors, Chair of the Distinguished Lecturer Selection Committee, Member of IEEE Fellow Selection Committee of the ComSoc. Dr. Shen served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE IoT Journal, IEEE Network, and IET Communications
Corresponding author: Haibo Zhou, e-mail: haibozhou@nju.edu.cn
Received Date: 2022-08-27
Accepted Date: 2022-11-02

Available Online: 2023-01-31

Abstract

Abstract

The mega-constellation network has gained significant attention recently due to its great potential in providing ubiquitous and high-capacity connectivity in sixth-generation (6G) wireless communication systems. However, the high dynamics of network topology and large scale of mega-constellation pose new challenges to the constellation simulation and performance evaluation. In this paper, we introduce UltraStar, a lightweight network simulator, which aims to facilitate the complicated simulation for the emerging mega-constellation of unprecedented scale. Particularly, a systematic and extensible architecture is proposed, where the joint requirement for network simulation, quantitative evaluation, data statistics and visualization is fully considered. For characterizing the network, we make lightweight abstractions of physical entities and models, which contain basic representatives of networking nodes, structures and protocol stacks. Then, to consider the high dynamics of Walker constellations, we give a two-stage topology maintenance method for constellation initialization and orbit prediction. Further, based on the discrete event simulation (DES) theory, a new set of discrete events is specifically designed for basic network processes, so as to maintain network state changes over time. Finally, taking the first-generation Starlink of 11 927 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites as an example, we use UltraStar to fully evaluate its network performance for different deployment stages, such as characteristics of constellation topology, performance of end-to-end service and effects of network-wide traffic interaction. The simulation results not only demonstrate its superior performance, but also verify the effectiveness of UltraStar.
- Discrete event simulation (DES),
- mega-constellation,
- network dynamics,
- performance evaluation,
- simulation architecture design

FullText(HTML)

References(46)

References

[1]	N. Cheng, W. C. Xu, W. S. Shi, Y. Zhou, N. Lu, H. B. Zhou, and X. M. Shen, “Air-ground integrated mobile edge networks: Architecture, challenges, and opportunities,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 56, no. 8, pp. 26–32, Aug. 2018. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2018.1701092
[2]	T. Wei, W. Feng, Y. F. Chen, C. X. Wang, N. Ge, and J. H. Lu, “Hybrid satellite-terrestrial communication networks for the maritime internet of things: Key technologies, opportunities, and challenges,” IEEE Internet Things J., vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 8910–8934, Jun. 2021. doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3056091
[3]	S. Z. Chen, Y. C. Liang, S. H. Sun, S. L. Kang, W. C. Cheng, and M. G. Peng, “Vision, requirements, and technology trend of 6G: How to tackle the challenges of system coverage, capacity, user data-rate and movement speed,” IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 218–228, Apr. 2020. doi: 10.1109/MWC.001.1900333
[4]	T. Ma, H. B. Zhou, B. Qian, N. Cheng, X. M. Shen, X. Chen, and B. Bai, “UAV-LEO integrated backbone: A ubiquitous data collection approach for B5G internet of remote things networks,” IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 39, no. 11, pp. 3491–3505, Nov. 2021. doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2021.3088626
[5]	J. J. Liu, Y. P. Shi, Z. M. Fadlullah, and N. Kato, “Space-air-ground integrated network: A survey,” IEEE Commun. Surv. Tut., vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 2714–2741, May 2018. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2018.2841996
[6]	S. Z. Chen, S. H. Sun, and S. L. Kang, “System integration of terrestrial mobile communication and satellite communication — the trends, challenges and key technologies in B5G and 6G,” China Commun., vol. 17, no. 12, pp. 156–171, Dec. 2020. doi: 10.23919/JCC.2020.12.011
[7]	O. Kodheli, E. Lagunas, N. Maturo, S. K. Sharma, B. Shankar, J. F. M. Montoya, J. C. M. Duncan, D. Spano, S. Chatzinotas, S. Kisseleff, J. Querol, L. Lei, T. X. Vu, and G. Goussetis, “Satellite communications in the new space era: A survey and future challenges,” IEEE Commun. Surv. Tut., vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 70–109, Feb. 2021. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2020.3028247
[8]	J. P. Choi and C. Joo, “Challenges for efficient and seamless space-terrestrial heterogeneous networks,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 156–162, May 2015. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2015.7105655
[9]	M. De Sanctis, E. Cianca, G. Araniti, I. Bisio, and R. Prasad, “Satellite communications supporting internet of remote things,” IEEE Internet Things J., vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 113–123, Feb. 2016. doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2015.2487046
[10]	C. Zhang, C. X. Jiang, L. L. Kuang, J. Jin, Y. Z. He, and Z. Han, “Spatial spectrum sharing for satellite and terrestrial communication networks,” IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 1075–1089, Jun. 2019. doi: 10.1109/TAES.2018.2889585
[11]	D. C. Nguyen, M. Ding, P. N. Pathirana, A. Seneviratne, J. Li, D. Niyato, O. Dobre, and H. V. Poor, “6G Internet of things: A comprehensive survey,” IEEE Internet Things J., vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 359–383, Jan. 2022. doi: 10.1109/JIOT.2021.3103320
[12]	Y. Lee and J. P. Choi, “Connectivity analysis of mega-constellation satellite networks with optical intersatellite links,” IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst., vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 4213–4226, Dec. 2021. doi: 10.1109/TAES.2021.3090914
[13]	R. D. Deng, B. Y. Di, S. Z. Chen, S. H. Sun, and L. Y. Song, “Ultra-dense LEO satellite offloading for terrestrial networks: How much to pay the satellite operator?” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, vol. 19, no. 10, pp. 6240–6254, Oct. 2020.
[14]	B. Y. Di, H. L. Zhang, L. Y.Song, Y. H. Li, and G. Y. Li, “Ultra-dense LEO: Integrating terrestrial-satellite networks into 5G and beyond for data offloading,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 47–62, Jan. 2019.
[15]	Z. Q. Lai, Q. Wu, H. W. Li, M. Y. Lv, and J. P. Wu, “OrbitCast: Exploiting mega-constellations for low-latency earth observation,” in Proc. 29th IEEE Int. Conf. Network Protocols, Dallas, TX, USA, 2021, pp. 1–12.
[16]	D. Bhattacherjee and A. Singla, “Network topology design at 27, 000 km/hour,” in Proc. 15th Int. Conf. Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies, Orlando, Florida, 2019, pp. 341–354.
[17]	Y. Wang, M. Sheng, W. H. Zhuang, S. Zhang, N. Zhang, R. Z. Liu, and J. D. Li, “Multi-resource coordinate scheduling for earth observation in space information networks,” IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun., vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 268–279, Feb. 2018. doi: 10.1109/JSAC.2018.2804045
[18]	Y. H. Du, L. Wang, L. N. Xing, J. G. Yan, and M. S. Cai, “Data-driven heuristic assisted memetic algorithm for efficient inter-satellite link scheduling in the Beidou navigation satellite system,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 1800–1816, Nov. 2021. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2021.1004174
[19]	A. Kak and I. F. Akyildiz, “Designing large-scale constellations for the internet of space things with CubeSats,” IEEE Internet Things J., vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1749–1768, Feb. 2021.
[20]	J. Kim, J. Lee, H. Ko, T. Kim, and S. Pack, “Space mobile networks: Satellite as core and access networks for B5G,” IEEE Communications Magazine: Articles,News,and Events of Interest to Communications Engineers, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 58–64, 2022.
[21]	M. Handley, “Delay is not an option: Low latency routing in space,” in Proc. 17th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks, Redmond, USA, 2018, pp. 85–91.
[22]	G. Giuliari, T. Klenze, M. Legner, D. Basin, A. Perrig, and A. Singla, “Internet backbones in space,” ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 25–37, Jan. 2020. doi: 10.1145/3390251.3390256
[23]	N. Pachler, I. del Portillo, E. F. Crawley, and B. G. Cameron, “An updated comparison of four low earth orbit satellite constellation systems to provide global broadband,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Communications Workshops, Montreal, Canada, 2021, pp. 1–7.
[24]	D. Bhattacherjee, W. Aqeel, I. N. Bozkurt, A. Aguirre, B. Chandrasekaran, P. B. Godfrey, G. Laughlin, B. Maggs, and A. Singla, “Gearing up for the 21st century space race,” in Proc. 17th ACM Workshop Hot Topics in Networks, Redmond, USA, 2018, pp. 113–119.
[25]	N. Cheng, W. Quan, W. S. Shi, H. Q. Wu, Q. Ye, H. B. Zhou, W. H. Zhuang, X. M. Shen, and B. Bai, “A comprehensive simulation platform for space-air-ground integrated network,” IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 178–185, Feb. 2020. doi: 10.1109/MWC.001.1900072
[26]	Q. Chen, G. Giambene, L. Yang, C. G. Fan, and X. Q. Chen, “Analysis of inter-satellite link paths for LEO mega-constellation networks,” IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol., vol. 70, no. 3, pp. 2743–2755, Mar. 2021. doi: 10.1109/TVT.2021.3058126
[27]	S. Kassing, D. Bhattacherjee, A. B. Aguas, J. E. Saethre, and A. Singla, “Exploring the “internet from space” with Hypatia,” in Proc. ACM Internet Measurement Conf., New York, NY, USA: ACM, 2020, pp. 214–229.
[28]	Z. Q. Lai, H. W. Li, and J. H. Li, “StarPerf: Characterizing network performance for emerging mega-constellations,” in Proc. IEEE 28th Int. Conf. Network Protocols, Madrid, Spain, 2020, pp. 1–11.
[29]	X. J. Zhang, L. N. Zhu, T. Li, Y. X. Xia, and W. H. Zhuang, “Multiple-user transmission in space information networks: Architecture and key techniques,” IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 17–23, Apr. 2019. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2019.1800274
[30]	H. Q. Wu, J. Y. Chen, C. H. Zhou, W. S. Shi, N. Cheng, W. C. Xu, W. H. Zhuang, and X. S. Shen, “Resource management in space-air-ground integrated vehicular networks: SDN control and AI algorithm design,” IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 52–60, Dec. 2020. doi: 10.1109/MWC.001.2000130
[31]	N. Cheng, J. C. He, Z. S. Yin, C. H. Zhou, H. Q. Wu, F. Lyu, H. B. Zhou, and X. M. Shen, “6G service-oriented space-air-ground integrated network: A survey,” Chin. J. Aeronaut., vol. 35, no. 9, pp. 1–18, Sept. 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.cja.2021.12.013
[32]	N. Zhang, S. Zhang, P. Yang, O. Alhussein, W. H. Zhuang, and X. S. Shen, “Software defined space-air-ground integrated vehicular networks: Challenges and solutions,” IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 101–109, Jul. 2017. doi: 10.1109/MCOM.2017.1601156
[33]	L. Wang, R. Iida, and A. M. Wyglinski, “Vehicular network simulation environment via discrete event system modeling,” IEEE Access, vol. 7, pp. 87246–87264, Jun. 2019. doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2922766
[34]	M. Mezzavilla, M. L. Zhang, M. Polese, R. Ford, S. Dutta, S. Rangan, and M. Zorzi, “End-to-end simulation of 5G mmwave networks,” IEEE Commun. Surv. Tut., vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 2237–2263, 2018. doi: 10.1109/COMST.2018.2828880
[35]	M. Agarwal, S. Purwar, S. Biswas, and S. Nandi, “Intrusion detection system for PS-Poll DoS attack in 802.11 networks using real time discrete event system,” IEEE/CAA J. Autom. Sinica, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 792–808, Oct. 2017. doi: 10.1109/JAS.2016.7510178
[36]	X. X. Qi, B. Zhang, Z. L. Qiu, and L. Zheng, “Using inter-mesh links to reduce end-to-end delay in walker delta constellations,” IEEE Commun. Lett., vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 3070–3074, Sept. 2021. doi: 10.1109/LCOMM.2021.3095227
[37]	Y. T. Su, Y. Q. Liu, Y. Q. Zhou, J. H. Yuan, H. Cao, and J. L. Shi, “Broadband LEO satellite communications: Architectures and key technologies,” IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 55–61, Apr. 2019. doi: 10.1109/MWC.2019.1800299
[38]	D. W. Yan, C. Liu, P. You, and S. W. Yong, “Multi-objective optimization design of extended walker constellation for global coverage services,” in Proc. 2nd IEEE Int. Conf. Computer and Communications, Chengdu, China, 2016, pp. 1309–1313.
[39]	O. Montenbruck, E. Gill, and F. H. Lutze, “Satellite orbits: Models, methods, and applications,” Appl. Mech. Rev., vol. 55, no. 2, pp. B27–B28, Mar. 2002. doi: 10.1115/1.1451162
[40]	R. K. Sharma, “Analytical short-term orbit predictions with J3 and J4 in terms of KS elements,” Celest. Mech. Dyn. Astr., vol. 56, no. 4, pp. 503–521, 1993. doi: 10.1007/BF00696183
[41]	D. Wei and C. Y. Zhao, “Analysis on the accuracy of the SGP4/SDP4 model,” Acta Astron. Sinica, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 332–339, Jul. 2009.
[42]	A. U. Chaudhry and H. Yanikomeroglu, “Laser intersatellite links in a starlink constellation: A classification and analysis,” IEEE Veh. Technol. Mag., vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 48–56, Jun. 2021. doi: 10.1109/MVT.2021.3063706
[43]	X. H. Jia, T. Lv, F. He, and H. J. Huang, “Collaborative data downloading by using inter-satellite links in LEO satellite networks,” IEEE Trans. Wireless Communications, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 1523–1532, Mar. 2017. doi: 10.1109/TWC.2017.2647805
[44]	G. Piro, L. A. Grieco, G. Boggia, F. Capozzi, and P. Camarda, “Simulating LTE cellular systems: An open-pource framework,” IEEE Trans. Vehicular Technology, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 498–513, Jun. 2011. doi: 10.1109/TVT.2010.2091660
[45]	M. Lacage and T. R. Henderson, “Yet another network simulator,” in Proc. Workshop on NS-2: The IP Network Simulator, New York, USA, 2006, pp. 12–22.
[46]	S. Papanastasiou, J. Mittag, E. G. Ström, and H. Hartenstein, “Bridging the gap between physical layer emulation and network simulation,” in Proc. IEEE Wireless Communication and Networking Conf., Sydney, Australia, 2010, pp. 1–6.

Supplements(0)

Cited By

Proportional views

Proportional views

通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

1.
沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142

Figures(15) / Tables(1)

Get Citation

PDF

XML

Article Metrics

Article views (879) PDF downloads(175)

Highlights

A systematic and extensible simulation framework for mega-constellations is proposed
Modules of topology, network, discrete event and visualization are newly designed
This is the first trial to simulate such constellations of more than 10,000 satellites
The topology characteristic, transmission performance and network dynamics are evaluated

UltraStar: A Lightweight Simulator of Ultra-Dense LEO Satellite Constellation Networking for 6G

doi: 10.1109/JAS.2023.123084

Abstract

References

Proportional views

Catalog

通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

Article Metrics

Highlights

Export File

Citation

Format

Content