SDN-based Testbed for Emerging Use Cases in Beyond 5G NTN-Terrestrial Networks

Abstract

Before the advent of High-Throughput Satellites (HTSs), the satellite capacity was not enough to accommodate a large amount of data. Thanks to HTS, beyond 5G networks will boost the cooperation between space, air and terrestrial networks. The coexistence of heterogeneous QoS traffic demands, (e.g., emergency services, In-Flight Connectivity (IFC), Earth Observation Missions (EOMs)), over a dynamic environment, such as Multi-layer satellite-terrestrial networks, made the routing complex to handle. Additionally, due to numerous Inter-Satellite Links (ISLs) and their frequent changes, a testbed with real network emulation is challenging to develop.It is relevant not only to optimize the dynamic routing, but also to emulate the network in a testbed. This allows to consider systems constraints such as communication and technology delays in the most realistic manner. This paper investigates the future coexistence of the mentioned use cases for integrated Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)-terrestrial networks. We use Software Defined Networking (SDN) to monitor the substrate network with traffic statistics and apply routing decisions, via traffic handovers, during unexpected situations (congestion, link unavailability), in a reactive manner. Furthermore, we show that, for traditional handovers due to loss of Line of Sight (LoS), the SDN controller manages the procedure proactively to minimize traffic losses.