A Proposal of Optimal Routing Techniques for non-GEO Satellite Systems

The continuously increasing number of mobile subscribers has generated a strong interest in expanding terrestrial wireless networks and supporting real-time communications regardless of the user location. These targets require a cautious management of available resources since the development of global systems implies a quite high cost. Routing is an important network function and must be very carefully considered. This paper proposes the implementation of optimal routing techniques for connection oriented mode and variable network topology, as non-GEO satellite systems require. In particular a well known optimal routing technique, named Flow Deviation, is modified by adding new procedures that render its applicability to a handover environment feasible and effective. Its performance is investigated through extended real time simulations in terms of delay, throughput, link utilization and also in terms of parameters related to the topology variations and the interruptible operation of ISLs. The pros and cons of the proposed scheme are discussed with respect to the well known shortest path scheme and helpful conclusions for the design of satellite constellations are obtained.