No Arabic abstract
The recent development of high-altitude platforms (HAPs) has attracted increasing attention since they can serve as a promising communication method to assist satellite-terrestrial networks. In this paper, we consider an integrated three-layer satellite-HAP-terrestrial network where the HAP support dual-band connectivity. Specifically, the HAP can not only communicate with terrestrial users over C-band directly, but also provide backhaul services to terrestrial user terminals over Ka-band. We formulate a sum-rate maximization problem and then propose a fractional programming based algorithm to solve the problem by optimizing the bandwidth and power allocation iteratively. The closed-form optimal solutions for bandwidth allocation and power allocation in each iteration are also derived. Simulation results show the capacity enhancement brought by the dual-band connectivity of the HAP. The influence of the power of the HAP and the power of the satellite is also discussed.
Dense small satellite networks (DSSN) in low earth orbits (LEO) can benefit several mobile terrestrial communication systems (MTCS). However, the potential benefits can only be achieved through careful consideration of DSSN infrastructure and identification of suitable DSSN technologies. In this paper, we discuss several components of DSSN infrastructure including satellite formations, orbital paths, inter-satellite communication (ISC) links, and communication architectures for data delivery from source to destination. We also review important technologies for DSSN as well as the challenges involved in the use of these technologies in DSSN. Several open research directions to enhance the benefits of DSSN for MTCS are also identified in the paper. A case study showing the integration benefits of DSSN in MTCS is also included.
Terrestrial communication networks have experienced significant development in recent years by providing emerging services for ground users. However, one critical challenge raised is to provide full coverage (especially in dense high-rise urban environments) for ground users due to scarce network resources and limited coverage. To meet this challenge, we propose a high altitude platform (HAP)-reserved ground-air-space (GAS) transmission scheme, which combines with the ground-to-space (G2S) transmission scheme to strengthen the terrestrial communication and save the transmission power. To integrate the two transmission schemes, we propose a transmission control strategy. Wherein, the ground user decides its transmission scheme, i.e., switches between the GAS link transmission and the G2S link transmission with a probability. We then maximize the overall throughput and derive the optimal probability that a ground user adopts the GAS transmission scheme. Numerical results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed transmission control strategy.
As the standardization of 5G is being solidified, researchers are speculating what 6G will be. Integrating sensing functionality is emerging as a key feature of the 6G Radio Access Network (RAN), allowing to exploit the dense cell infrastructure of 5G for constructing a perceptive network. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive overview on the background, range of key applications and state-of-the-art approaches of Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC). We commence by discussing the interplay between sensing and communications (S&C) from a historical point of view, and then consider multiple facets of ISAC and its performance gains. By introducing both ongoing and potential use cases, we shed light on industrial progress and standardization activities related to ISAC. We analyze a number of performance tradeoffs between S&C, spanning from information theoretical limits, tradeoffs in physical layer performance, to the tradeoff in cross-layer designs. Next, we discuss signal processing aspects of ISAC, namely ISAC waveform design and receive signal processing. As a step further, we provide our vision on the deeper integration between S&C within the framework of perceptive networks, where the two functionalities are expected to mutually assist each other, i.e., communication-assisted sensing and sensing-assisted communications. Finally, we summarize the paper by identifying the potential integration between ISAC and other emerging communication technologies, and their positive impact on the future of wireless networks.
Satellite networks are expected to support global connectivity and services via future integrated 6G space-terrestrial networks (STNs), as well as private non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) constellations. In the past few years, many such private constellations have been launched or are in planning, e.g. SpaceX and OneWeb to name a few. In this article we take a closer look at the private constellations and give a comprehensive overview of their features. We then discuss major technical challenges resulting from their design and briefly review the recent literature addressing these challenges. Studying the emerging private constellations gives us useful insights for engineering the future STNs. To this end, we study the satellite mobility and evaluate the impact of two handover strategies on the space-to-ground link performance of four real private NGSO constellations. We show that the link capacity, delay, and handover rate vary across the constellations, so the optimal handover strategy depends on the constellation design. Consequently, the communications solutions of future STNs should be compliant with the constellation specifics, and the STN standards need to be flexible enough to support satellite operation with the large parameter space observed in the emerging private constellations.
Aerial relays have been regarded as an alternative and promising solution to extend and improve satellite-terrestrial communications, as the probability of line-of-sight transmissions increases compared with adopting terrestrial relays. In this paper, a cooperative satellite-aerial-terrestrial system including a satellite transmitter (S), a group of terrestrial receivers (D), and an aerial relay (R) is considered. Specifically, considering the randomness of S and D and employing stochastic geometry, the coverage probability of R-D links in non-interference and interference scenarios is studied, and the outage performance of S-R link is investigated by deriving an approximated expression for the outage probability. Moreover, an optimization problem in terms of the transmit power and the transmission time over S-R and R-D links is formulated and solved to obtain the optimal end-to-end energy efficiency for the considered system. Finally, some numerical results are provided to validate our proposed analysis models, as well as to study the optimal energy efficiency performance of the considered system.