Coverage Analysis of LEO Satellite Downlink Networks: Orbital Geometry Dependent Approach

The low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite network has emerged as a promising technology for providing global coverage with high data rates. However, analyzing the performance of the LEO satellite network is particularly challenging due to its dependence on several orbit geometry parameters, such as satellite altitude and inclination angle. This paper introduces a novel systematic analysis framework for the LEO satellite network, emphasizing the significance of orbit geometric parameters. We model the location of satellites in a circular orbit according to a one-dimensional homogeneous Poisson point process. Utilizing this model, we derive the distribution of the nearest distance between a satellite and a fixed user’s location on Earth as a function of orbit-geometry parameters. Leveraging this distribution, we characterize the coverage probability of a single-orbit LEO network, considering both small and large-scale fading effects. Our results show improved accuracy in performance for real-world LEO satellite networks, accounting for actual orbital parameters. We then extend our coverage analysis to multi-orbit networks, demonstrating the advantages of utilizing multi-orbit satellite networks in terms of coverage probability. Finally, we present simulation results to validate the proposed model and its accuracy.