LEO Satellite Access Network (LEO-SAN)

Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellite access network (LEO-SAN) can realize full-time and three-dimensional broadband access on the surface of the earth. It has become the common development trend of satellite Internet and mobile communication networks in the future, and has received more and more attention and research from academia and industry. LEO satellites can achieve global coverage through giant constellations. Compared with medium- and high-orbit satellites, LEO satellites have higher communication bandwidth and lower communication delay, and they are promising to be applied in 6G mobile communication networks. Multiple countries around the world have carried out planning for LEO satellite orbit and spectrum, which is in the process of implementation. Different from traditional terrestrial access networks, LEO-SAN faces the compound challenges of high-speed mobility of space-based base stations and highly limited communication and computing resources. LEO satellite constellations are huge, where the costs of network management, maintenance, and control increase rapidly. In addition, the high-speed movement of LEO satellites makes the network topology change rapidly, which causes that the access of ground users encounters frequent handover problems. Moreover, the beam overlap between satellites changes with time, resulting in potential interference problems.

 

In response to the above challenges, domestic and foreign scholars have gradually carried out research on network architecture, beam coverage, resource management, and etc. However, LEO-SAN is still in its infancy, and has not yet formed comprehensive and systematic theoretical methods and technical standards. This special issue aims to promote the basic theory and key technology research of LEO-SAN, making theoretical innovations and technological breakthroughs in terms of the system architecture, network organization, beam planning, resource management, random access, wireless links, and etc. The research on these topics will improve the reliability, security, and network performance and provide important theoretical and technical references for the industrial application of LEO-SAN.

 

“China Communications” is planning to release the special issue of “LEO Satellite Access Network (LEO-SAN)” in July issue of 2023. This special issue focuses on technical problems in LEO satellite network architecture, network organization, beam planning, resource management, network access, mobility management, wireless transmission, and network security. The issues related to the call for papers are as follows.

 

Topics include (but not limited to):

● Network architecture, network organization and protocol analysis for LEO-SAN

● Beam planning and beamforming technologies for LEO-SAN

● Space-time-frequency resource management technologies for LEO-SAN

● Random access technologies for high-dynamic LEO

● User equipment and feeder link handover management, mobility management technologies

● Interference management technologies for large-scale LEO satellite networks

● Network security technologies for LEO-SAN

● Anti-Doppler frequency shift and reliable transmission technologies for LEO satellite communications

● Network performance analysis of LEO satellite massive constellations

● Integrated collaboration technologies between LEO satellites and medium-/high- orbit satellites

● Artificial intelligence (AI) based LEO satellite networking technologies

● Routing technologies for highly dynamic LEO satellites

 

SCHEDULE

Submission Deadline: Jan 31, 2023

Acceptance Notification (1st round): February 28, 2023

Revision Due: March 31, 2023

Final Decision Due: April 30, 2023

Final Manuscript Due: May 20, 2023

Publication Date: July 15, 2023

 

Guest editors

Zhenyu Xiao, Beihang University, China

Yuanzhi He, Academy of Military Science, China

Chengchao Liang, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China

Haipeng Yao, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China

Zhili Sun, University of Surrey, UK

Lipeng Zhu, National University of Singapore, Singapore

 

Submission guidelines

This feature topic “LEO Satellite Access Network (LEO-SAN)” invites submissions of original, previously unpublished technical papers and visionary articles exploring network architecture, network organization, beam planning, resource management, network access, mobility management, wireless transmission, and network security. All submissions will be anonymously peer reviewed and will be evaluated on the basis of their technical content. Potential topics of interest include, but not limited to areas listed above.

Papers should be submitted in two separate .doc files (preferred) or .pdf files: 1) Main Document (including paper title, abstract, key words, and full text); 2) Title page (including paper title, author affiliation, acknowledgement and any other information related with the authors’ identification) through the Manuscript Central. Please register or login at http://mc03.manuscriptcentral.com/chinacomm, then go to the author center and follow the instructions there. Remember to select “LEO Satellite Access Network (LEO-SAN)–April Issue, 2023” as your manuscript type when submitting; otherwise, it might be considered as a regular paper.

 

Each submission must be accompanied by the following information:

· An abstract of about 150 words

· 3-8 keywords

· Original photographs with high-resolution (300 dpi or greater); eps. or tif. format is preferred sequentially numbered references. The basic reference format is: author name, "article name", issue name(italic）, vol, no., page, month, year. for example: Y.M Huang, "pervateture in wireless hetergeneous.",IEEE Journal on Selected Areas, vol.27, no. 5, pp 34-50, May, 2009.

· Brief biographies of authors (50-75 words)

· Contact information, including email and mailing addresses