Analysis on Requirements of Software-Defined Satellite Networking with Flow-Wise Real-Time Control

Massive satellite constellation networks are attracting the attention of academic and industrial communities, and software-defined satellite networks are becoming prevalent for its flexibility in providing convenient, fine-granularity, and optimized control over the network. However, in this process, the satellite needs to equip extra buffer and send extra control plane traffic to achieve flexibility, which are precious resources for satellite nodes. In this work, we present an analytical model of the satellite switch buffer and control plane traffic that follows OpenFlow specification, and analyze the hardware requirements for satellite nodes to achieve flexible control. Based on the model, we conduct numerical evaluations, and we try to provide some insight into the satellite network design.