scholarly journals Federated Reinforcement Learning Based AANs with LEO Satellites and UAVs

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8111
Author(s):  
Seungho Yoo ◽  
Woonghee Lee
Keyword(s):  
Reinforcement Learning ◽  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Access Network ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Populated Area ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
Resource Capacity ◽  
Rocket Technology

Supported by the advances in rocket technology, companies like SpaceX and Amazon competitively have entered the satellite Internet business. These companies said that they could provide Internet service sufficiently to users using their communication resources. However, the Internet service might not be provided in densely populated areas, as the satellites coverage is broad but its resource capacity is limited. To offload the traffic of the densely populated area, we present an adaptable aerial access network (AAN), composed of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites and federated reinforcement learning (FRL)-enabled unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Using the proposed system, UAVs could operate with relatively low computation resources than centralized coverage management systems. Furthermore, by utilizing FRL, the system could continuously learn from various environments and perform better with the longer operation times. Based on our proposed design, we implemented FRL, constructed the UAV-aided AAN simulator, and evaluated the proposed system. Base on the evaluation result, we validated that the FRL enabled UAV-aided AAN could operate efficiently in densely populated areas where the satellites cannot provide sufficient Internet services, which improves network performances. In the evaluations, our proposed AAN system provided about 3.25 times more communication resources and had 5.1% lower latency than the satellite-only AAN.

scholarly journals GNSS RTK Positioning Augmented with Large LEO Constellation

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingxing Li ◽  
Hongbo Lv ◽  
Fujian Ma ◽  
Xin Li ◽  
Jinghui Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite Systems ◽  
Convergence Time ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Satellite Systems ◽  
Long Baseline ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite ◽  
Long Baselines

It is widely known that in real-time kinematic (RTK) solution, the convergence and ambiguity-fixed speeds are critical requirements to achieve centimeter-level positioning, especially in medium-to-long baselines. Recently, the current status of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) can be improved by employing low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. In this study, an initial assessment is applied for LEO constellations augmented GNSS RTK positioning, where four designed LEO constellations with different satellite numbers, as well as the nominal GPS constellation, are simulated and adopted for analysis. In terms of aforementioned constellations solutions, the statistical results of a 68.7-km baseline show that when introducing 60, 96, 192, and 288 polar-orbiting LEO constellations, the RTK convergence time can be shortened from 4.94 to 2.73, 1.47, 0.92, and 0.73 min, respectively. In addition, the average time to first fix (TTFF) can be decreased from 7.28 to 3.33, 2.38, 1.22, and 0.87 min, respectively. Meanwhile, further improvements could be satisfied in several elements such as corresponding fixing ratio, number of visible satellites, position dilution of precision (PDOP) and baseline solution precision. Furthermore, the performance of the combined GPS/LEO RTK is evaluated over various-length baselines, based on convergence time and TTFF. The research findings show that the medium-to-long baseline schemes confirm that LEO satellites do helpfully obtain faster convergence and fixing, especially in the case of long baselines, using large LEO constellations, subsequently, the average TTFF for long baselines has a substantial shortened about 90%, in other words from 12 to 2 min approximately by combining with the larger LEO constellation of 192 or 288 satellites. It is interesting to denote that similar improvements can be observed from the convergence time.

scholarly journals Opportunistic In-Flight INS Alignment Using LEO Satellites and a Rotatory IMU Platform

Aerospace ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 280
Author(s):  
Farzan Farhangian ◽  
Hamza Benzerrouk ◽  
Rene Landry
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
State Space Model ◽  
Flight Test ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Measurement Unit ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
Positioning Method ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite

With the emergence of numerous low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations such as Iridium-Next, Globalstar, Orbcomm, Starlink, and OneWeb, the idea of considering their downlink signals as a source of pseudorange and pseudorange rate measurements has become incredibly attractive to the community. LEO satellites could be a reliable alternative for environments or situations in which the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is blocked or inaccessible. In this article, we present a novel in-flight alignment method for a strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) using Doppler shift measurements obtained from single or multi-constellation LEO satellites and a rotation technique applied on the inertial measurement unit (IMU). Firstly, a regular Doppler positioning algorithm based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF) calculates states of the receiver. This system is considered as a slave block. In parallel, a master INS estimates the position, velocity, and attitude of the system. Secondly, the linearized state space model of the INS errors is formulated. The alignment model accounts for obtaining the errors of the INS by a Kalman filter. The measurements of this system are the difference in the outputs from the master and slave systems. Thirdly, as the observability rank of the system is not sufficient for estimating all the parameters, a discrete dual-axis IMU rotation sequence was simulated. By increasing the observability rank of the system, all the states were estimated. Two experiments were performed with different overhead satellites and numbers of constellations: one for a ground vehicle and another for a small flight vehicle. Finally, the results showed a significant improvement compared to stand-alone INS and the regular Doppler positioning method. The error of the ground test reached around 26 m. This error for the flight test was demonstrated in different time intervals from the starting point of the trajectory. The proposed method showed a 180% accuracy improvement compared to the Doppler positioning method for up to 4.5 min after blocking the GNSS.

scholarly journals Detecting Targets above the Earth’s Surface Using GNSS-R Delay Doppler Maps: Results from TDS-1

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 2327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changjiang Hu ◽  
Craig Benson ◽  
Hyuk Park ◽  
Adriano Camps ◽  
Li Qiao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Specular Reflection ◽  
Satellite System ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Earth Orbit ◽  
Navigation Satellite ◽  
Reflection Point ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
Gnss Reflectometry ◽  
Global Navigation Satellite ◽  
Remotely Sense

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) reflected signals can be used to remotely sense the Earth’s surface, known as GNSS reflectometry (GNSS-R). The GNSS-R technique has been applied to numerous areas, such as the retrieval of wind speed, and the detection of Earth surface objects. This work proposes a new application of GNSS-R, namely to detect objects above the Earth’s surface, such as low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. To discuss its feasibility, 14 delay Doppler maps (DDMs) are first presented which contain unusually bright reflected signals as delays shorter than the specular reflection point over the Earth’s surface. Then, seven possible causes of these anomalies are analysed, reaching the conclusion that the anomalies are likely due to the signals being reflected from objects above the Earth’s surface. Next, the positions of the objects are calculated using the delay and Doppler information, and an appropriate geometry assumption. After that, suspect satellite objects are searched in the satellite database from Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Finally, three objects have been found to match the delay and Doppler conditions. In the absence of other reasons for these anomalies, GNSS-R could potentially be used to detect some objects above the Earth’s surface.

scholarly journals Ionospheric Responses to the June 2015 Geomagnetic Storm from Ground and LEO GNSS Observations

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2200
Author(s):  
Chao Gao ◽  
Shuanggen Jin ◽  
Liangliang Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Geomagnetic Storm ◽  
Geomagnetic Storms ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Horizontal Gradient ◽  
Electron Content ◽  
Vertical Total Electron Content ◽  
Total Electron ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gnss Observations

Geomagnetic storms are extreme space weather events, which have considerable impacts on the ionosphere and power transmission systems. In this paper, the ionospheric responses to the geomagnetic storm on 22 June 2015, are analyzed from ground-based and satellite-based Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations as well as observational data of digital ionosondes, and the main physical mechanisms of the ionospheric disturbances observed during the geomagnetic storm are discussed. Salient positive and negative storms are observed from vertical total electron content (VTEC) based on ground-based GNSS observations at different stages of the storm. Combining topside observations of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites (GRACE and MetOp satellites) with different orbital altitudes and corresponding ground-based observations, the ionospheric responses above and below the orbits are studied during the storm. To obtain VTEC from the slant TEC between Global Positioning System (GPS) and LEO satellites, we employ a multi-layer mapping function, which can effectively reduce the overall error caused by the single-layer geometric assumption where the horizontal gradient of the ionosphere is not considered. The results show that the topside observations of the GRACE satellite with a lower orbit can intuitively detect the impact caused by the fluctuation of the F2 peak height (hmF2). At the same time, the latitude range corresponding to the peak value of the up-looking VTEC on the event day becomes wider, which is the precursor of the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA). However, no obvious response is observed in the up-looking VTEC from MetOp satellites with higher orbits, which indicates that the VTEC responses to the geomagnetic storm mainly take place below the orbit of MetOp satellites.

scholarly journals LEO Precise Orbit Determination with Inter-Satellite Links

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 2117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li ◽  
Jiang ◽  
Ma ◽  
Lv ◽  
Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Orbit Determination ◽  
Autonomous Navigation ◽  
Precise Orbit Determination ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
3 Dimensional ◽  
Precise Orbit ◽  
Autonomous Operation ◽  
Satellite Links ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
The Right

Traditional precise orbit determination (POD) for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites relies on observations from ground stations and onboard receivers. Although the accuracy can reach centimeter level, there are still problems such as insufficient autonomous operation capability. The inter-satellite link (ISL) is a link used for communication between satellites and has a function of dual-way ranging. Numerous studies have shown that observational data using ISLs can be adopted for POD of navigation satellites. In this contribution, we mainly focus on LEO satellites POD with ISLs. First, we design LEO constellations with different numbers of satellites and ISL measurements, based on which the constellations are simulated. Then rough tests of POD using different link topologies are carried out. The results show that in the 60-LEO constellation the average 3-dimensional (3D) orbital errors are 0.112 m using “4-connected” link topology with constant 4 links per satellite and 0.069 m using “all-connected” link topology with theoretically maximum numbers of links. After that, we carry out refined POD experiments with several sets of satellite numbers and different observation accuracy. The results show the higher link ranging accuracy and the more numbers of links bring higher POD precision. POD with ISLs gets bad performance in the case of center of gravity reference when link ranging accuracy is poor and numbers of links are small. When the link accuracy is 40 cm, average 3D orbital errors of 60-LEO constellation are 0.358 m, which can only meet the demand of autonomous navigation. With the constraint of the right ascension of the ascending node (RAAN), POD using ISLs reaches an extremely high precision when adopting a spatial reference provided by navigation satellites. For 120-LEO constellation, the average 3D orbital errors are 0.010 m; for 192-LEO constellation, the errors are 0.006 m.

scholarly journals Closing Connectivity Gap: An Overview of Mobile Coverage Solutions for Not-Spots in Rural Zones

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (23) ◽  
pp. 8037
Author(s):  
Diego Fernando Cabrera-Castellanos ◽  
Alejandro Aragón-Zavala ◽  
Gerardo Castañón-Ávila
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Review Article ◽  
The Internet ◽  
The World ◽  
Broadband Communications ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Access To Data ◽  
Different Parts

Access to broadband communications in different parts of the world has become a priority for some governments and regulatory authorities around the world in recent years. Building new digital roads and pursuing a connected society includes looking for easier access to the internet. In general, not all areas where people congregate are fully covered, especially in rural zones, thus restricting access to data communications and inducing inequality. In the present review article, we have comprehensively surveyed the use of three platforms to deliver broadband services to such remote and low-income areas, and they are proposed as follows: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), altitude platforms (AP), and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. These novel strategies support the connected and accessible world hypothesis. Hence, UAVs are considered a noteworthy solution since their efficient maneuverability can solve rural coverage issues or not-spots.

scholarly journals Simultaneous Radio Occultation Predictions for Inter-Satellite Comparison of Bending Angle Profiles from COSMIC-2 and GeoOptics

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3644
Author(s):  
Yong Chen ◽  
Xi Shao ◽  
Changyong Cao ◽  
Shu-peng Ho
Keyword(s):  
Radio Occultation ◽  
International System ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Prediction Method ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Bending Angle ◽  
System Of Units ◽  
Leo Satellites ◽  
Bending Angles

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) is a remote sensing technique that uses International System of Units (SI) traceable GNSS signals for atmospheric limb soundings. The RO bending angle/sounding profiles are needed for assimilation in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, weather, climate, and space weather applications. Evaluating these RO data to ensure the high data quality for these applications is becoming more and more critical. This study presents a method for predicting radio occultation events, from which simultaneous radio occultation (SRO) for a pair of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites on the limb to the same GNSS satellite can be obtained. The SRO method complements the Simultaneous Nadir Overpass (SNO) method (for nadir viewing satellite instruments), which has been widely used to inter-calibrate LEO to LEO and LEO to geosynchronous-equatorial-orbit (GEO) satellites. Unlike the SNO method, the SRO method involves three satellites: a GNSS and two LEO satellites with RO receivers. The SRO method allows for the direct comparison of bending angles when the simultaneous RO measurements for two LEO satellites receiving the same GNSS signal pass through approximately the same atmosphere within minutes in time and within less than 200 km of distance from each other. The prediction method can also be applied to radiosonde overpass prediction, and coordinate radiosonde launches for inter-comparisons between RO and radiosonde profiles. The main advantage of the SRO comparisons of bending angles is the significantly reduced uncertainties due to the much shorter time and smaller atmospheric path differences than traditional RO comparisons. To demonstrate the usefulness of this method, we present a comparison of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate-2 (COSMIC-2) and GeoOpitcs RO profiles using SRO data for two time periods: Commercial Weather Data (CWD) data delivery order-1 (DO-1): 15 December 2020–15 January 2021 and CWD DO-2: 17 March 2021–31 August 2021. The results show good agreement in the bending angles between the COSMIC-2 RO measurements and those from GeoOptics, although systematic biases are also found in the inter-comparisons. Instrument and processing algorithm performances for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), penetration height, and bending angle retrieval uncertainty are also characterized. Given the efficiency of this method and the many RO measurements that are publicly and commercially available as well as the expansion of receiver capabilities to all GNSS systems, it is expected that this method can be used to validate/inter-calibrate GNSS RO measurements from different missions.

scholarly journals Improved cloud radio access network based fair network model in internet pricing

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 968
Author(s):  
Indrawati Indrawati ◽  
Fitri Maya Puspita ◽  
Desta Wahyuni ◽  
Evi Yuliza ◽  
Oki Dwipurwani
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Access Network ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Internet Service ◽  
Radio Access Network ◽  
Cloud Radio Access Network ◽  
Internet Users ◽  
Radio Access ◽  
Pricing Scheme ◽  
Improved Model

In this study, the pricing scheme that will be formed is a model from the previous research model involving model of cloud-radio access network (C-RAN) and fair network management models. This model combines the benefits of internet service provider (ISP) and service quality (QoS) obtained by internet users, one of which is fair network factors. The model used is a nonlinear equation and is solved by the LINGO 13.0 program to get the optimal solution. The results show that the pricing scheme with regard to service quality generates maximum revenue for ISPs. Based on the improved C-RAN model that are classified into 2 cases, the optimal results in the improved model, the optimal value is found in the pricing scheme in case 1 of by conducting numerical computation using  hotspot traffic from local server.

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