A survivable routing protocol for two-layered LEO/MEO satellite networks

Due to the rapid development of space communication, satellite networks will be confronted with more complex space environment in future, which poses the important demand on the design of the survivable and efficient routing protocols. Among satellite networks, two-layered Low Earth Orbit (LEO)/Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite networks (LMSNs) have become an attractive architecture for their better communication service than single-layered satellite networks. To determine the topological dynamics of LMSN, the satellite group and group manager (SGGM) method is a prevalent strategy. However, it can not precisely capture the topological dynamics of the LEO layer, which may result in the unreliability of data transmission. Besides, most existing routing protocols based on the SGGM method will collapse once any top satellite fails. To overcome both limitations, this paper proposes a new topology control strategy for LMSNs. The proposed strategy determines the snapshot in terms of the topological change of the LEO layer, which ensures the topological consistency of routing calculation. Moreover, a new survivable routing protocol (SRP) is presented for LMSNs by combining both centralized and distributed routing strategies. The SRP can provide strong survivability under the LEO or MEO satellite failure. Besides, it can also achieve the minimum delay routing provided the MEO layer can effectively work. The performance of SRP is also evaluated by simulation and analysis.