Online Intra-Domain Segment Routing for Software-Defined CubeSat Networks

The increasing popularity of CubeSats has given rise to the possibility of ubiquitous cyber-physical systems serving a wide variety of applications that range from monitoring and reconnaissance to in-space backhauling. Expectedly, such systems are characterized by the need for a robust data routing framework that is purpose-built for resource-constrained CubeSats. To this end, a software-defined networking (SDN) based segment routing (SR) framework for CubeSats has been introduced in this paper. More specifically, a robust analytical characterization of the SR problem has been presented, along with an online algorithm for near-optimal route computation characterized by a provable performance bound. Furthermore, a comprehensive performance evaluation has also been provided, with the results obtained being benchmarked against classical SDN systems. The results demonstrate that the proposed framework not only ensures a higher level of demand satisfaction but also results in a significant reduction in control traffic, along with load balancing.