LEO Mega-Constellations for 6G Global Coverage: Challenges and Opportunities

• Published in: IEEE access Vol. 9; pp. 164223 - 164244
• Main Authors: Xie, Haoran, Zhan, Yafeng, Zeng, Guanming, Pan, Xiaohan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 2021; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: 6G mobile communication; air interface; Communication channels; interference mitigation; Logic gates; Low earth orbit satellites; Mega-constellations; Mobility management; multiple access; network protocol; Orbits; Resource allocation; Satellite communication; Satellite constellations; satellite handover; Satellite networks; Satellite tracking; Satellites; Telemetry; TT&C

Mega-constellations have the potential for providing 6G Internet owing to the unique advantage of global coverage. However, current satellite technologies are not omnipotent. There are still many challenging problems that need to be solved for mega-constellations to support 6G, e.g., efficient resou...