Design and Analysis of Store-and-Forward Data Collection Network Using Low-cost LEO Small Satellite and Intelligent Terminals

There have been a lot of studies about Low Earth Orbit satellite constellations but very few have dealt with a single LEO satellite. The Picosatellite, as small as the Cubesat concept, requires employment of a simple store-and-forward payload whereas all the complexity is brought back to the terminals. This paper describes the design and analysis of store-and-forward data collection network using low-cost LEO Picosatellite and intelligent ground terminals. The study will employ the Slotted Aloha multiple access in the uplink and will assess its efficiency in terms of the maximum number of ground terminals that can be served by the satellite. In this work, we will establish a mathematical model for evaluating the performance of the Slotted Aloha system and then we will present some simulation results by using discrete event simulations. In such a system, two appropriate measures of the performance are the throughput and the average delay; thus, we will use these measures in this paper. A good correlation between analytical model and the discrete event simulations was found.