Gemma Morral Adell, Hieu Nguyen, Arne Bjørk
UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Norway
Title: Efficient device-to-device architecture for communication networks supported by LEO Cubesats in low-demographic areas
Biography
Biography: Gemma Morral Adell, Hieu Nguyen, Arne Bjørk
Abstract
The present work explore device-to-device (D2D/M2M) systems without the use of base transceiver stations (BTS) to perform communications and data processing over any type of connected device such smartphones or tablets. This may especially benefit low demographical dense countries such as Norway where small towns and isolated houses are spread and separated by long distances and also benefit non-terrestrial services such ship communications. When addressing communications related to emergency or health-care services, short, quick and simple data processing are the main design parameters to take into account. Until now, satellite networks provide most of the telecommunications services following a classical architecture using satellites in geostationary orbits (GEO) due to their continuous visibility. However, one of the main drawbacks is the low latency the information takes to be transmitted between users. Hence, this can affect negatively communications related to emergency and search&rescue services where time may be a decisive factor, especially in low-demographic areas. To reduce this delay time, satellites in low earth orbits (LEO) have higher latency at expenses of the visibility, which is solved by placing a network of several satellites at the same orbit. Besides, the use of Globalstar/Iridium networks implies buying new equipment, e.g. a satellite mobile phone device and paying higher data rates compared to the wide range of lower prices for regular smartphones that are more usually used. The D2D network architecture is described as follows: Cubesats work as networking stations transparent for the ground segment and any other smart devices connected through the way between the source user and the destination work as routing device forwarding/broadcasting the information. Yet, once an isolated user needs emergency services, that may not be close to the surrounding area, an alert signal is emitted and broadcasted through the device-to-device ground network. The ground segment is mainly coordinated from the space segment by Cubesats located in LEO. The use of Cubesat in LEO may provide faster response to emergency services, lower complexity to build Cubesat systems and lower cost to put Cubesat platforms in orbit.