Data Offloading in Ultra-dense LEO-based Integrated Terrestrial-Satellite Networks

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a terrestrial-satellite network (TSN) architecture to integrate the ultra-dense low earth orbit (LEO) networks and the terrestrial networks for data offloading. In TSN, each user can access the network over C-band via a macro cell, a traditional small cell, or a LEO-backhauled small cell (LSC). Each LSC is scheduled to upload the received data via multiple satellites over Ka-band. We aim to maximize the sum data rate while satisfying the varying backhaul capacity constraints jointly determined by the LEO satellite based backhaul links. The optimization problem is then solved by our proposed matching algorithm. Simulation results show that the integrated network significantly outperforms the non-integrated one in terms of the sum data rate.