Modeling and Analysis of Downlink Communications in a Heterogeneous LEO Satellite Network

TL;DR

This work addresses downlink performance and interference in future heterogeneous LEO satellite networks sharing spectrum. It introduces a tractable spatial framework based on a superposition of Cox point processes to model satellites on diverse orbits across $K$ constellations, and derives SINR-based performance metrics under both closed and open access. Key contributions include the isotropic Cox model for orbits, explicit no-satellite and coverage probability expressions via Laplace transforms of interference, and a moment-matching approach showing the Cox model closely approximates forthcoming constellations such as Starlink and OneWeb. The results demonstrate that open access substantially improves coverage across all user percentiles and provide a practical framework for designing and optimizing heterogeneous LEO networks around interference and association dynamics.

Abstract

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks connect millions of devices on Earth and offer various services, such as data communications, remote sensing, and data harvesting. As the number of services increases, LEO satellite networks will continue to grow, and many LEO satellite network operators will share the same spectrum resources. We aim to examine the coexistence of such a future heterogeneous LEO satellite network by proposing a tractable spatial model and analyzing the basic performance of downlink communications. We model a heterogeneous LEO satellite network as Cox point processes, ensuring satellites are located on various orbits. Then, we analyze two different access technologies for such a heterogeneous satellite network: closed access and open access. For both cases, we derive the coverage probability and prove that the coverage probability of the open access scenario outperforms that of the closed access, and this coverage enhancement applies to all users. By providing essential network performance statistics as key distributional parameters and by presenting the fact that the Cox point process approximates a forthcoming future constellation with slight variation, the developed framework and analysis will serve as a tractable instrument to design, evaluate, and optimize heterogeneous LEO satellite networks with numerous constellations.

Figures (17)

• Figure 1: Illustration of the closed access. Users can communicate solely with the LEO satellites of the same constellation type.
• Figure 2: Illustration of the proposed open access scenario. Users can communicate with satellites of any constellation type.
• Figure 3: The Illustration of the network model with $K=2$.
• Figure 4: Illustration of the proposed network with $K=3$.
• Figure 5: The longitude $\theta$ is measured from the $x$-axis to the segment $\mkern 1.5mu\overline{\mkern-1.5muOA\mkern-1.5mu}\mkern 1.5mu$. The inclination ${\phi}$ is measured from the reference plane to the orbital plane. The angle $\omega$ for satellite $X$ is measured from $\mkern 1.5mu\overline{\mkern-1.5muOA\mkern-1.5mu}\mkern 1.5mu$ to $\mkern 1.5mu\overline{\mkern-1.5muOX\mkern-1.5mu}\mkern 1.5mu$ on the orbital plane.

Theorems & Definitions (17)

• Remark 1
• Remark 2
• Remark 3
• Lemma 1
• Lemma 2
• Lemma 3
• Definition 1
• Lemma 4
• Lemma 5
• Proposition 1