SpaceMeta: Global-Scale Massive Multi-User Virtual Interaction over LEO Satellite Constellations

TL;DR

SpaceMeta tackles the latency and synchronization challenge of global-scale multi-user virtual interaction over LEO satellite constellations by jointly selecting ingress and relay satellites and by optimally routing flows through inter-satellite and user links. It introduces a greedy, time-slotted framework that balances end-to-end latency $t_{ave}$ and a synchronization term weighted by $\alpha$, using region-based ingress-relay assignment and flow allocation. Evaluations on Starlink-scale topology show latency reductions of up to $6.72\%$ against SpaceRTC and $40.67\%$ against VIA, with substantial reductions in latency dispersion, demonstrating improved synchronization. The results indicate SpaceMeta is a feasible, scalable approach for metaverse-like global interactions over satellite networks, enabling near-ground performance with global coverage.

Abstract

Low latency and high synchronization among users are critical for emerging multi-user virtual interaction applications. However, the existing ground-based cloud solutions are naturally limited by the complex ground topology and fiber speeds, making it difficult to pace with the requirement of multi-user virtual interaction. The growth of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations becomes a promising alternative to ground solutions. To fully exploit the potential of the LEO satellite, in this paper, we study the satellite server selection problem for global-scale multi-user interaction applications over LEO constellations. We propose an effective server selection framework, called SpaceMeta, that jointly selects the ingress satellite servers and relay servers on the communication path to minimize latency and latency discrepancy among users. Extensive experiments using real-world Starlink topology demonstrate that SpaceMeta reduces the latency by 6.72% and the interquartile range (IQR) of user latency by 39.50% compared with state-of-the-art methods.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: System overview.
• Figure 2: Performance comparison of SpaceMeta with other benchmarks.
• Figure 3: Latency performance with different values of $\alpha$.