Analysis of Low-Latency Virtual Network Resource Reservation for LEO Satellite Network

For beyond 5G and 6G communications, the satellite terrestrial integrated network (STIN) is expected to provide diverse services with seamless coverage. The first step for implementing the STIN is to make the satellite network capable of supporting advanced functions that the terrestrial counterpart is providing. In this paper, network virtualization with network slices, which is actively studied in the terrestrial network, is analyzed for the satellite network. The main difference between satellite and terrestrial networks is the mobility of satellites. Since the slice services require end-to-end connectivity, the satellite network topology change due to the mobility of satellites can give a huge impact to the slices. The latency is analyzed with time-varying satellite topology with an assumption that the virtual network resource for slice is reserved for low latency. For simulations, the minimum number of handovers is assumed and the end-to-end latency is analyzed for its initial latency, average latency, minimum latency, and maximum latency during the service time of slices in the satellite network.