Flooding the Market: Comparing the Performance of Nine Broadband Megaconstellations

Satellite communications megaconstellations are revolutionizing Internet connectivity, serving millions of users worldwide. However, prior performance analyses are limited to Low Earth Orbit architectures and broad operational assumptions, not representative of the modern satellite environment. This letter aims to breach this gap by analyzing all proposed communications constellations with more than 100 satellites using representative operational conditions and state-of-the-art resource allocation methodologies. The analysis underscores the pivotal role played by the number of satellites and link quality as key drivers of performance. Combining existing designs could serve up to 1.8 billion people at 2 Mbps.