Satellite Communications in the New Space
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IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS (DRAFT) 1 Satellite Communications in the New Space Era: A Survey and Future Challenges Oltjon Kodheli, Eva Lagunas, Nicola Maturo, Shree Krishna Sharma, Bhavani Shankar, Jesus Fabian Mendoza Montoya, Juan Carlos Merlano Duncan, Danilo Spano, Symeon Chatzinotas, Steven Kisseleff, Jorge Querol, Lei Lei, Thang X. Vu, George Goussetis Abstract—Satellite communications (SatComs) have recently This initiative named New Space has spawned a large number entered a period of renewed interest motivated by technological of innovative broadband and earth observation missions all of advances and nurtured through private investment and ventures. which require advances in SatCom systems. The present survey aims at capturing the state of the art in SatComs, while highlighting the most promising open research The purpose of this survey is to describe in a structured topics. Firstly, the main innovation drivers are motivated, such way these technological advances and to highlight the main as new constellation types, on-board processing capabilities, non- research challenges and open issues. In this direction, Section terrestrial networks and space-based data collection/processing. II provides details on the aforementioned developments and Secondly, the most promising applications are described i.e. 5G associated requirements that have spurred SatCom innovation. integration, space communications, Earth observation, aeronauti- cal and maritime tracking and communication. Subsequently, an Subsequently, Section III presents the main applications and in-depth literature review is provided across five axes: i) system use cases which are currently the focus of SatCom research. aspects, ii) air interface, iii) medium access, iv) networking, v) The next four sections describe and classify the latest SatCom testbeds & prototyping. Finally, a number of future challenges contributions in terms of 1) system aspects, 2) air interface, and the respective open research topics are described. 3) medium access techniques 4) networking and upper layers. Index Terms—satellite communications, space-based data col- When needed, certain preliminaries are provided in a tutorial lection, 5G integration, non-terrestrial networks, new constella- manner to make sure that the reader can follow the material tions, on-board processing, air interface, MAC protocols, net- flow without reverting to external sources. Section VIII surveys working, testbeds. communication testbeds which have been developed in order to practically demonstrate some of the advanced SatCom I. INTRODUCTION concepts. The last section is reserved for highlighting open Since their inception, Satellite Communications (SatComs) research topics that are both timely and challenging. To have found a plethora of applications, including media broad- improve the material flow we provide the structure of the paper casting, backhauling, news gathering etc. Nowadays, following in Fig. 1 and the list of acronyms in Table I. the evolution of Internet-based applications, SatComs are going through a transformation phase refocusing the system II. MOTIVATION design on data services, namely broadband SatComs. The main motivation is a) the rapid adoption of media streaming A. New Constellation Types instead of linear media broadcasting and b) the urgent need to Traditionally, Geostationary (GEO) satellites have been extend broadband coverage to underserved areas (e.g. devel- mainly used for SatComs since they avoid fast movement oping countries, aero/maritime, rural). Furthermore, a major between the terminals and the satellite transceiver and they milestone of the 5th generation of communication systems allow for wide coverage using a single satellite. Multibeam arXiv:2002.08811v2 [eess.SP] 2 Mar 2020 (5G) is the integration and convergence of diverse wired and satellite systems have been specifically developed to allow wireless technologies. In this context, SatComs pave the way efficient frequency reuse and high-throughput broadband rates for seamless integration targeting specific use cases which can across the coverage area, not unlike their terrestrial cellu- take advantage of their unique capabilities. In parallel, private lar counterparts. However, new more ambitious constellation ventures have led the development of a multitude of manu- types are currently being developed, motivated by advanced facturing and launching options, previously only reserved for communication technologies and cheaper launch costs. governments and a handful of large international corporations. In this direction, there has recently been a tremendous inter- est in developing large Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations This work was supported in part by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) under the following projects: ASWELL, FLEXSAT, DISBUS, that can deliver high-throughput broadband services with low ROSETTA, PROCAST, SIERRA, COHESAT and SATIOT. latency. This constellation type has been the holy grail of O. Kodheli, E. Lagunas, N. Maturo, S. K. Sharma, B. Shankar, J. SatComs since Teledesic first proposed it 25 years ago [1]. F. Mendoza Montoya, J. C. Merlano Duncan, D. Spano, S. Chatzino- tas, S. Kisseleff, J. Querol, L. Lei, T. X. Vu are with Snt - Interdisci- However, it appears that now the relevant manufacturing and plinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, University of Luxembourg, launching processes have matured and a viable implementation 29 Avenue J.F. Kennedy,Luxembourg City L-1855, Luxembourg (e-mail: and deployment may be within grasp. Multiple companies, [email protected]) G. Goussetis is with School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Institute such as SpaceX, Amazon, OneWeb, TeleSAT, have already of Sensors, Signals and Systems, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, U.K. announced large LEO plans including thousands of satellites IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS (DRAFT) 2 1. Satellite Use Cases for eMBB A. New Constellation Types 1. Interface with xG systems I. Introduction through NTN 2. Satellite Use Cases for mMTC A. 5G NTN B. On-board Capabillities 2. Interface with the Cloud B. VLEO and satcom-assisted aerial 3. Satellite Use Cases for uRLLC C. Non-terrestrial Networks through a Ground Station networks Network II. Motivation D. New Space 1. Very Low Earth Orbit C. Aeronautical and Maritime Tracking and Communication 2. High Altitude Platforms 1. DVB D. Earth Observation Data Collection A. Constellation types 3. Low Altitude Platforms 2. 5G NTN E. Space Communications III. Applications & Use cases B. Communication architecture 3. CCSDS C. Interface with other systems 1. ADS-B Protocol Overview D. Spectrum 2. Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) A. UHTS IV. System Aspects E. Standardization 1. Fixed Satellite B. MAC Protocols for Satellite IoT 2. Mobile Satellite 1. Forward Link Scheduling C. System Coexistence V. Air Interface: Enablers & A. Channel Modelling 2. Return Link Scheduling Topics 1. Passive and focused reflector 3. New Scheduling Techniques B. Antennas antennas 4. Resource Allocation C. UHTS 2. Active Antenna Arrays A. Software Defined Networking and VI. Medium Access Control: 5. Beamhopping Network Function Virtualization Enablers & Topics D. Data Collection 3. Trends in antennas for LEO/ MEO missions and the ground 6. Carrier Agregarion B. Caching over Satellite E. Others segment VII. Networking: Enablers and Upper-layer Integration E. Onboard regeneration / Flying Base A. PHY & MAC: SDR Based 1.Digital Payloads 1. Fixed Assignment Based Stations B. Network Testbeds 2. Precoding/MIMO/MU-MIMO 2. Random Access Based F. Aggressive frequency reuse and 3. NOMA VIII. Testbeds & Prototyping dynamic spectrum manage-ment for both GSO and NGSO 1. Satellite IoT Air Interface 1. Coordinated G. Satellite network automation A. Digital twins for satellite systems 2. Wideband Downlinks 2. Uncoordinated H. Advanced satellite resource IX. Future & Open Topics B. Cooperative satellite swarms and orchestration clusters enabled by intersatellite links 1. Optical Communications I. Quantum Key Distribution through C. Hierarchical Aerial Networks 2. Satellite swarms and Optical Satcom synchronization D. Internet of Space Things/ Planetary X. Conclusions J. Machine Learning Applications Communications 3. Deep Space Communications Fig. 1. Structure of the paper and topic classification and some have already launched demo satellites. As of January technologies have to be ultra-reliable and robust since there is 2020, SpaceX has deployed 242 satellites to build its Starlink very little chance of repairing/replacing after the asset is put in constellation, with the goal to reach nearly 12000 satellites by orbit. Nevertheless, recent advances in the efficiency of power mid-2020 [2]. generation as well as the energy efficiency of radio frequency Moreover, we turn our focus to Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and digital processing components have allowed for enhanced where a constellation of 20 satellites (O3B) has been placed on-board processing which can enable innovative communi- in a circular orbit along the equator at an altitude of 8063 km. cation technologies, such as flexible routing/channelization, Each satellite is equipped with twelve mechanically steerable beamforming, free-space optics and even signal regeneration antennas to allow tracking and handover of terminals. The (see Section V-C). Furthermore, space-hardened software- next generation of O3B satellites is planned to use an active defined radios can enable on-board waveform-specific process- antenna (see Section V-B2)