Space Networking Kit: A Novel Simulation Platform for Emerging LEO Mega-constellations

Futuristic Space Networks (SN) present unprece-dented prospects for ubiquitous, low-latency Internet services. Yet, these networks also encounter unique challenges arising from the dynamic nature of satellites on a global scale. To comprehensively address emerging issues in SNs, researchers require the capability to conduct a diverse array of experiments. However, existing experimental approaches either implement visualization functionality but lack network functionality (e.g., the space simulator), or implement network functionality but lack visualization (e.g., the networking simulator). In this paper, we present SNK, a novel simulation platform with visualization and networking capabilities for evaluating the space network performance of global Internet services. SNK offers real-time communication visualization and supports the simulation of routing between edge node of network. The platform enables the evaluation of routing and network performance metrics such as latency, stretch, network capacity, and throughput under different network structures and density. The effectiveness of SNK is demonstrated through various simulation cases, including the routing between fixed edge stations or mobile edge stations and analysis of snace network structures.