A Multi-Slot Load Balancing Scheme for LEO Satellite Communication Handover Target Selection

The Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) constellation has emerged as a promising component for seamless and fast global connectivity. With the increasing number of satellites in LEO constellations, multiple satellites can simultaneously cover the same geographical area. The selection of a user's handover (HO) target can significantly impact the quality of service (QoS) for communication and the load status of the satellite network. Motivated by this, the paper introduces a multi-slot load balancing (MSLB) scheme to offer users HO target selection strategies. An optimization problem is formulated to determine the HO sequence for users according to the MSLB scheme. Subsequently, a HO sequence graph mapping (HSGM) algorithm and an iterative shortest path solving (ISPS) algorithm are developed to address this optimization problem by transforming it into a shortest path searching problem. Simulation results demonstrate that, in comparison to traditional single-slot schemes, the MSLB scheme exhibits superior performance in load balancing and improving user communication QoS.