A non-cooperative game theoretic approach for power allocation in intersatellite communication

Static interference management techniques to enable multiple access intersatellite communication in small satellite networks can be inefficient noting the unpredictable variations in network conditions. Game Theory (GT) is a powerful mathematical tool to model the interactions among the cognitive small satellites to observe the network variations as well as actions of other satellites and make the best decisions to optimize their performance. In this paper, a network of multiple slave satellites that want to communicate with a single master satellite over an interference channel is considered. We propose a distributed power allocation mechanism using a non-cooperative game theoretic model to enable the slave satellites to select the optimal power strategy to reduce the interference level and maximize their utility functions. Using a pricing algorithm to control the aggressive behavior of the players of the game, the optimum pricing factor for the system and the optimal values of the power for slave satellites are defined. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first one to propose a decentralized power allocation mechanism in autonomous small satellite networks using a game theoretic model. The simulation results show the performance of this proposed model in enhancing the network sum-throughput.