Status: attic
Beyond 5G: Cellular Base Stations on Low Earth Orbit Satellites
MA: Master's Thesis (or Diploma Thesis / Diplomarbeit)
In order to provide low-latency high-throughput Internet access all over the world, companies like SpaceX, Amazon, and OneWeb currently deploy and maintain Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. Thousands of small satellites orbit Earth at an altitude of roughly 500km. Such satellite constellations are promising candidates in order to provide 5G services in areas with little to no ground infrastructure. Especially vehicular networks would benefit from such a system, since cars driven in rural areas often experience out-of-service situations. For evaluating LEO satellite supported vehicular networks, the simulator space_Veins is currently developed by us. It already supports the complex mobility of LEO satellites, but it lacks accurate 5G simulation models. For simulating 5G networks the simulator Simu5G is a suitable solution since it is highly customizable as it based on OMNeT++ and the INET Framework just like space_Veins.
Goals of the thesis
In its current version space_Veins uses a simple unit disk model to simulate communication between vehicles and satellites. The goal of this thesis is to adapt the simulation models of cars and satellites such that they communicate via 5G-based network interface cards. Thus, Simu5G, providing the 5G simulation models, needs to be integrated into space_Veins.
As indicated on the top, this thesis can either be a Bachelor’s Thesis or a Master’s Thesis. In case of a Bachelor’s Thesis the satellites' mobility will be simplified such that space_Veins is not required. Instead of using the more accurate mobility model provided by space_Veins, the satellites' mobility will be based on default mobility models provided by the INET Framework. In case of a Master’s Thesis space_Veins’s LEO satellite mobility model will be used. Thus, getting familiar with space_Veins is mandatory.
Possible milestones are as follows:
- Getting familiar with the existing simulation environment and the research area.
- Performing a literature review on LEO satellites used as 5G base stations and corresponding simulation techniques.
- Adapting existing simulation models such that LEO satellites and vehicles communicate via 5G protocols.
- Evaluating key performance metrics like latency, throughput, and robustness with respect to LEO satellites' mobility.
Requirements
5G background knowledge is beneficial due to the tight time constraints.
Keywords
C++, Network Simulation, Vehicular Networking, LEO Satellite, 5G
Literature
[1] O. Kodheli et al., “Satellite Communications in the New Space Era: A Survey and Future Challenges,” IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 70–109, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2020.3028247
[2] Mario Franke, Florian Klingler and Christoph Sommer, “Poster: Simulating Hybrid LEO Satellite and V2X Networks,” Proceedings of 13th IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC 2021), November 2021. (to appear)
https://www.cms-labs.org/bib/franke2021simulating/