Protocol analysis and simulation of inter-satellite communication for formation flying systems

IEEE 802.11 protocol is widely used in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) for its high data transmission rates. The formation flying satellite system has a short inter-satellite distance, which is similar to WLAN. It may be a good choice to apply IEEE 802.11 protocol in inter-satellite communication to increase throughput. However inter-satellite distance is longer than what desired by WLAN, so IEEE 802.11 protocols should be modified to be used in formation flying satellite systems. In this paper, two methods of medium access control for IEEE 802.11b protocol are analyzed firstly, which are Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) and Point Coordination Function (PCF), and then the protocol is modified to be used in the formation flying satellite systems. Finally, we analyze the performance of the modified protocol through simulations.