Research of Adaptive Routing Scheme for LEO Network

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network is becoming an increasingly hot topic in satellite communication since it provides shorter round-trip delays compared with Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites. Due to the rapid topology changes in the LEO constellation, its routing protocol should be different from existing protocols harnessed for the terrestrial networks. Based on the periodicity and predictability characteristics of LEO network, static routing algorithms are most commonly used. The topology snapshots and corresponding forwarding tables are calculated in advance so as to save the on-board computing resources. However, the static routing algorithm is not compatible with sudden link failure, which reduces its robustness. In this paper, a static-dynamic combined routing strategy is proposed as an adaptive routing scheme to LEO satellite networks. The new scheme captures both the higher robustness compared with static routing algorithms and lower packet loss, higher throughput compared with dynamic routing algorithms.