Measuring the Satellite Links of a LEO Network

Low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite networks have become very popular in recent years, exemplified by Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper and others, due to the dramatically reduced launch cost and increased demand for connectivity anytime, anywhere. After an exploration of Starlink access, core and backbone networks, in this paper we focus on the satellite access network (SAN) of Starlink around the world. Particularly, we measure the access performance in terms of one-way delay and round-trip time from user terminal (UT) to ground station (GS) and point-of-presence (PoP), both inside-out and outside-in, and even on inactive dishes. It reveals the unique characteristics of Starlink SAN in terms of satellite-GS scheduling, media access control and user contention, and sheds light on the challenges and opportunities for network protocols and applications. The paper will be complemented by public dataset release and conference on-site demo for the research and industry community.