Performance of packet networks in satellite clusters

The authors introduce an approximate performance model for a packet switched satellite cluster consisting of m satellites interconnected through intersatellite links. The satellite cluster performance is expressed in terms of mean delay, throughput, and overflow probability. These performance measures are obtained as a function of the system load, traffic distribution, and system configuration in terms of the number of uplinks, number of buffers, number of transponders, and the intersatellite link capacity. The results obtained from the analytical model were within the confidence intervals of the simulation results obtained with a 99% confidence level. The analysis can be used to investigate the sensitivity of the system performance as a function of the system configuration.<
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