Spatial Ultra-Sparse Distributed Antenna Satellite-Ground Cooperative Transmission Architecture: Challenges, Key Technologies, and Trends

The bottleneck of single satellite platform in antenna performance and in-orbit reconstruction capability makes it difficult to meet the needs of large capacity, high speed, and anti-interference for future satellite communication systems. The introduction of distributed satellite cluster (DSC) has brought about a new change in the way satellites are used. By transforming a single large satellite into a distributed system composed of multiple small satellites, satellite resources that are independently distributed in adjacent space are integrated, thus enhancing the overall capability of the system. In this article, based on DSC, the spatial ultra-sparse distributed antenna (SUSDA) space-ground collaborative transmission architecture is proposed, which will be helpful in promoting the development and application of satellite distributed antennas, and realizing the joint cooperation of distributed loads. In particular, we consider the use of communication signal for sensing purpose. On this basis, we discuss the challenges and key technologies of SUSDA, and discuss the promising directions of this architecture.