Adaptive Load Balancing Routing Algorithm for Low Earth Orbit Satellite Cluster Networks

Large-scale satellite networks are a crucial component of future communication systems. However, they pose several challenges to satellite routing design and link recovery. This paper proposes an Adaptive Load Balancing routing algorithm for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Cluster Networks (ALBSCN) to meet the needs of large-scale Low Earth Orbit LEO satellite networks. The constellation is divided into clusters, with each cluster maintaining the intra-cluster link state by electing a cluster head. The cluster head computes intra-cluster and inter-cluster routes. Messages are forwarded using inter-cluster multipath routing and intra-cluster routing techniques. We validated the algorithm's performance and compared it with other algorithms in terms of packet delivery delay using simulation. Simulation results indicate that the proposed clustering routing scheme effectively reduced packet loss and end-to-end delay, while also increasing network throughput.

I. Introduction

Satellite communications are an essential component of modern communication systems. They provide global cover-age. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are particularly useful for efficient communication and data transmission due to their lower latency compared to Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites. Development costs of LEO satellites have been continuously decreasing, which makes them more and more promising. In recent years, there has been a significant increase of LEO satellites, which has resulted in an abundance of communication resources for satel-lite networks [1], [2]. However, the complex network topology of these satellites has also brought significant challenges.