A Hierarchical Approach to Resource Allocation in Extensible Multi-Layer LEO-MSS

Low earth orbit mobile satellite system (LEO-MSS) is the major system to provide communication support for mobile terminals beyond the coverage of terrestrial communication systems. However, the quick movement of LEO satellites and current single-layer system architecture impose restrictions on the capability to provide satisfactory service quality, especially for the remote and non-land regions with high traffic requirement. To tackle this problem, high-altitude platforms (HAPs) and terrestrial relays (TRs) are introduced to cover hot-spot regions, and the current single-layer system becomes an LEO-HAP multi-layer access network. Under this setup, we propose a hierarchical resource allocation approach to circumvent the complex management caused by the intricate relationships among different layers. Specifically, to maximize the throughputs, we propose a dynamic multi-beam joint resource optimization method in LEO-ground downlinks based on the predicted movement of LEO satellites. Afterwards, we propose the dynamic resource optimization method of HAP-ground downlinks when LEO satellites and HAPs share the same spectrum. To solve these problems, we use the Lagrange dual method and Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions to find the optimal solutions. Numerical results show that the proposed architecture outperforms current LEO-MSS in terms of average capacity. In addition, the proposed optimization methods increase the throughputs of LEO-ground downlinks and HAP-ground downlinks with an acceptable complexity.