Performance Evaluation of SDN-Based Internet of Space Things

The evolution of wireless communication is motivating the expansion of the scope of the Internet of Things (IoT) to an even greater scale. By 2020, it is anticipated that 50 billion devices will be connected to wireless networks. However, IoT is still limited in its reach owing to constraints associated with terrestrial networks. In an attempt to enhance the service and spatial scope of IoT, we have introduced the Internet of Space Things (IoST), a novel cyber-physical system that spans air, ground, and space. IoST leverages recent advancements, and our prior experience, in nanosatellite design, along with Software-defined Networking, and Network Function Virtualization to create an end-to-end platform for sensing and data delivery across the globe. In this paper, we review the key concepts of IoST and provide a comprehensive performance evaluation of the system. More specifically, we evaluate the impact of different orbital configurations and carrier frequencies (ranging from the S-band all the way to THz) on data rates, link latencies, next-hop availability and access durations. Further, we also present additional performance metrics in the context of a case-study involving end-to-end data delivery between two major cities. Based on the results obtained, we note the potential of IoST for a wide variety of use-cases including but not limited to remote sensing, cellular backhauling, and mission critical communications.