Constellation as a Service: Tailored Connectivity Management in Direct-Satellite-to-Device Networks
This addresses connectivity management for global mobile services using satellite networks, offering an incremental improvement over single-constellation approaches.
The paper tackles the challenge of managing connectivity in direct-satellite-to-device networks with multiple constellations, which suffer from high interference and frequent handovers, by proposing a Constellation as a Service framework that dynamically forms optimal sub-constellations; simulation results show it significantly improves service rates and reduces handover overhead.
Direct-satellite-to-device (DS2D) communication is emerging as a promising solution for global mobile service extension, leveraging the deployment of satellite constellations. However, the challenge of managing DS2D connectivity for multi-constellations becomes outstanding, including high interference and frequent handovers caused by multi-coverage overlap and rapid satellite movement. Moreover, existing approaches primarily operate within single-constellation shell, which inherently limits the ability to exploit the vast potential of multi-constellation connectivity provision, resulting in suboptimal DS2D service performances. To address these challenges, this article proposes a Constellation as a Service (CaaS) framework, which treats the entire multi-constellation infrastructure as a shared resource pool and dynamically forms optimal sub-constellations (SCs) for each DS2D service region. The formation of each SC integrates satellites from various orbits to provide tailored connectivity based on user demands, guided by two innovative strategies: predictive satellite beamforming using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and pre-configured handover path for efficient satellite access and mobility management. Simulation results demonstrate that CaaS significantly improves satellite service rates while reducing handover overhead, making it an efficient and continuable solution for managing DS2D connectivity in multi-constellation environments.