Invulnerability-Based Constellation Design in LEO Satellite Networks

The low earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks have received increasing attention because of wider coverage, lower latency, and cost-efficient networking capabilities. However, satellite nodes or links may be attacked and invalidated, and the failure of nodes and link poses performance loss to the LEO satellite networking. To address such challenges, in this paper, an invulnerability-based LEO satellite constellation is designed to achieve higher invulnerability and lower cost. Firstly, a LEO satellite network model is established, and the build link probability is derived after analyzing the dynamic network topology. Then, the invulnerability benefit is defined by quantifying complete invulnerability and cost, and the problem of LEO satellite constellation design is formulated to maximize the invulnerability benefit. Following that, a tabu search genetic algorithm combined with opposite-based learning strategy (OBL-TSGA) is proposed to obtain reasonable satellite constellation orbit parameter with the best invulnerability benefit. Simulation results show that the designed satellite constellation can obtain higher invulnerability at a lower cost.