An approach to QoS-based routing for low Earth orbit satellite networks

We propose a routing methodology for multi-hop low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks aiming at minimising the number of link handovers per connection, while at the same time satisfying QoS requirements. For the representation of the network topology, an approach with a graph method is used, where a new metric for inter-satellite links, called lifetime, is introduced. This metric is then considered for minimisation of connection re-routing attempts due to the connectivity changes. In addition to this, we propose a QoS-based routing strategy for multi-service LEO satellite networks, for which the so-called per service performance is studied by numerical examples.