Service function chain in small satellite-based software defined satellite networks

Software Defined Satellite Networks (SDSN) are proposed to solve the problems in traditional satellite networks, such as time-consuming configuration and inflexible traffic scheduling. The emerging application of small satellite and research of SDSN make it possible for satellite networks to provide flexible network services. Service Function Chain (SFC) can satisfy this need. In this paper, we are motivated to investigate applying SFC in the small satellite-based SDSN for service delivery. We introduce the structure of the multi-layer constellation-based SDSN. Then, we describe two deployment patterns of SFC in SDSN, the Multi-Domain (MD) pattern and the Satellite Formation (SF) pattern. We propose two algorithms, SFP-MD, and SFP-SF, to calculate the Service Function Path (SFP). We implement the algorithms and conduct contrast experiments in our prototype. Finally, we summarize the applicable conditions of two deployment patterns according to the experimental results in terms of hops, delay, and packet loss rate.