In the context of the 5G ecosystem, the integration between the terrestrial and satellite networks is envisioned as a potential approach to further enhance the network capabilities. In light of this integration, the satellite community is revisiting its role in the next generation 5G networks. Emerging technologies such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN) which rely on programmable and reconfigurable concepts, are foreseen to play a major role in this regard. Therefore, an interesting research topic is the introduction of management architecture solutions for future satellite networks driven by means of SDN. This anticipates the separation of the data layer from the control layer of the traditional satellite networks, where the control logic is placed on programmable SDN controllers within traditional satellite devices. While a centralized control layer promises delay reductions, it introduces additional overheads due to reconfiguration and migration costs. In this paper, we propose a method to quantify the overhead imposed on the network by the aforementioned parameters while investigating the use-case scenario of an SDN-enabled satellite space segment. We make use of an optimal controller placement and satellite-to-controller assignment which minimizes the average flow setup time with respect to varying traffic demands. Furthermore, we provide insights on the network performance with respect to the migration and reconfiguration cost for our proposed SDN-enabled architecture. Finally, we compare our proposed space segment SDN-enabled architecture with alternative solutions in the state-of-the-art given the aforementioned performance metrics.

中文翻译：

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可重构SDN LEO星座的设计与评估

在 5G 生态系统的背景下，地面和卫星网络之间的集成被视为进一步增强网络能力的潜在方法。鉴于这种整合，卫星社区正在重新审视其在下一代 5G 网络中的作用。新兴技术，例如依赖可编程和可重构概念的软件定义网络 (SDN)，预计将在这方面发挥重要作用。因此，一个有趣的研究课题是为未来以SDN驱动的卫星网络引入管理架构解决方案。这预计将数据层与传统卫星网络的控制层分离，其中控制逻辑放置在传统卫星设备内的可编程 SDN 控制器上。虽然集中控制层承诺减少延迟，但由于重新配置和迁移成本，它引入了额外的开销。在本文中，我们提出了一种方法来量化上述参数对网络施加的开销，同时研究支持 SDN 的卫星空间段的用例场景。我们利用最佳控制器放置和卫星到控制器分配，最大限度地减少与不同流量需求相关的平均流量设置时间。此外，我们提供了有关我们提出的支持 SDN 的架构的迁移和重新配置成本的网络性能的见解。最后，考虑到上述性能指标，我们将我们提出的空间段 SDN 启用架构与最先进的替代解决方案进行了比较。