When LEO Mega-Constellations Meet New Radio: A Holistic Performance Evaluation Framework

Low Earth orbit (LEO) mega-constellation satellite networks (LMCSNs) have shown great potential to extend the coverage capability of conventional terrestrial networks. The exploitation of the prevalent New Radio (NR) standard for LMCSNs can unleash the full potential toward a highly integrated satellite-terrestrial network. Despite this premise, how to systematically define, quantify, and assess the technical performance of NR enabled LMCSNs remains an open issue. In this paper, we address the challenging issue by proposing a holistic performance evaluation framework. Firstly, a key performance indicator (KPI) system including constellation-specific KPIs (i.e.,
$N$
-asset coverage, area traffic capacity, and service availability) and radio interface technology KPIs is devised. An efficient LEO constellation oriented performance assessment methodology is then carefully designed based on realistic beam layout and accurate interference modeling. We have carried out rigorous system-level simulations and provided extensive numerical results to assess the KPI system. It can be observed that the achieved area traffic capacity of the reference LEO constellation with 1800 satellites is less than 4 Kbps/km2. Besides, the
$N$
-asset coverage and service availability range from 5.95 to 11.45, and from 24.9% to 32.7%, respectively.