Energy-efficient packet access scheme for MF-TDMA in non-GEO satellite systems

The paper deals with the proposal of an access protocol for the MF-TDMA air interface (i.e., resources in the time-frequency domain) to support multiple packet traffic classes in LEO and MEO satellite systems. A random access phase based on a persistency probability is adopted for each traffic class to gain the reservation of resources. We propose an optimization process for our packet access scheme where control parameters are selected to save the energy of the terminals. Comparisons with an energy-unaware access scheme have permitted us to highlight that our protocol entails a significant reduction of energy consumption, accepting a small performance degradation. This work has been carried out within both the SHINES Project (Prin 2002) and the SatNex Network of Excellence (n. 507052).