A method and device for deploying onboard traffic processing unit in a satellite system

Abstract

The present invention provides an on-board traffic processing unit deployment method for a satellite system, the method comprising: S1, obtaining the position of a user terminal, the position of a ground station, the satellite motion trajectory and the coverage of a satellite beam; S2, calculating all the inlet satellites that the user terminal can access based on the information obtained in step S1 to obtain an inlet satellite information set; S3, calculating all the outlet satellites that the ground station can access based on the information obtained in step S1 to obtain an outlet satellite information set; S4, obtaining a traffic data path information set of the user terminal according to the inlet satellite information set and the outlet satellite information set; S5, selecting from the path information set a path that makes the transmission delay of traffic data from the inlet satellite and the outlet satellite to the ground station shortest in each time period and calculating the original transmission delay; S6, determining a satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period based on all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period and deploying a traffic processing unit on the queue.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, in particular to satellite communication technology in the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to a method and device for deploying an onboard traffic processing unit applied to a satellite system. Background Art

[0002] Satellites have brought great convenience to mobile communications. However, early mobile communication satellites did not support on-board processing. Satellites only acted as signal amplifiers to receive traffic data sent by user terminals and forwarded it to ground stations. In this mode, the transmission process of traffic data was Figure 1 As shown, the transmission path of traffic data is: "user terminal-satellite-ground station-data center network-ground station-satellite-user terminal" or "user terminal-satellite-ground station-data center network-ground station-user terminal", wherein the user terminal sends the traffic data to the satellite, and the satellite forwards the traffic data to the ground station and then sends it to the data center network for processing. The data center network transmits the processed traffic data back to the ground station, which is then forwarded by the ground station to the satellite and then sent to the user terminal, or directly transmitted back to the user terminal by the ground station. When the traffic data is forwarded to the data center network for processing according to the above process, due to the high altitude of the satellite, tens of milliseconds of air interface delay will be generated when transmitting the traffic data, thereby affecting the processing efficiency of the traffic data. In addition, due to the high dynamic motion of the satellite, the coverage time of its satellite beam for the fixed terminal of the ground user is short, resulting in constant changes in the satellites that the user terminal and the ground station can access, which may cause the traffic data sent by the user terminal to the satellite to pass through an intersatellite link composed of multiple satellites before reaching the ground station. In this case, the traffic data transmission process is as follows Figure 2 As shown in the figure, the transmission path of traffic data is: "user terminal-satellite A-satellite B-satellite C-ground station-data center network-ground station-satellite C-satellite B-satellite A-user terminal". When the traffic data is transmitted according to the above transmission path, there is not only air interface delay but also inter-satellite transmission delay, which further affects the processing efficiency of the traffic data.

[0003] With the development of space-ground integrated information network technology, mobile communication satellites have gradually evolved from early transparent forwarding to a mode that supports on-board processing, which can greatly improve the processing efficiency of traffic data. However, due to factors such as the number of satellite nodes and the space environment, the computing, storage, bandwidth, and power resources of satellite nodes are greatly restricted. The on-board processing capability of a single satellite is only equivalent to the communication capability of a ground base station.

[0004] In recent years, researchers have been continuously studying how to reduce air interface latency to improve communication efficiency. In the fifth-generation mobile communication network 5G, the air interface latency has been reduced to 1ms. At the same time, the concept of network slicing has been proposed to meet the needs of different service levels through network slicing. Satellites are an important part of the 5G network. Slicing satellites and deploying virtual network functions on board can improve user experience and meet some needs of future communication scenarios. At present, some researchers have proposed that 5G user plane functions (UPF) and virtual network functions (VNF) can be deployed on satellites. Figure 3 As shown in the figure, a virtual network function (VNF) is deployed on some satellites in the space segment, so that the terminal devices in the user segment can realize data processing and direct exchange of end-to-end users on the satellite. Although the onboard VNF can realize data processing and direct exchange of end-to-end users on the satellite, avoiding data landing, thereby reducing communication latency and improving user experience, the satellite moves at a high speed relative to the ground, and the network topology changes over time. How to deploy the virtual network function and how to schedule traffic data on the satellite after the deployment of the virtual network function are urgent problems to be solved. Summary of the invention

[0005] Therefore, the purpose of the present invention is to overcome the defects of the above-mentioned prior art and provide an on-board traffic processing unit deployment method applied to a satellite system, a traffic processing unit deployment device and a traffic scheduling method for a satellite system.

[0006] The object of the present invention is achieved through the following solutions:

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for deploying an onboard traffic processing unit for a satellite system, wherein the satellite system comprises a plurality of satellite nodes, each satellite node being capable of receiving traffic data from a user terminal and forwarding the data to a ground station for processing, the traffic processing unit being configured to process user traffic on a satellite, and the method comprising deploying a traffic processing unit onboard for a user terminal in accordance with the following steps: S1, obtaining the position of the user terminal, the position of the ground station, the satellite motion trajectory, and the coverage of the satellite beam; S2, based on the information obtained in step S1, calculating all the accessible entry satellites corresponding to the user terminal and calculating the accessible time period of the user terminal on each entry satellite to form an entry satellite information set; S3, based on the information obtained in step S1, calculating all the accessible exit satellites corresponding to the ground station and calculating the accessible time period of the user terminal on each entry satellite to form an entry satellite information set. Calculate the accessible time period of the ground station on each exit satellite to form an exit satellite information set; S4, obtain the flow data path information set of the user terminal according to the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, wherein the path information set includes the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station on the data flow transmission path of the user terminal in each time period; S5, according to the available resources of each satellite, select from the path information set of step S4 the path that makes the flow data transmission delay from the entry satellite and the exit satellite to the ground station shortest in each time period, and calculate the original transmission delay of the flow data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period; S6, determine the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period with all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in step S5 and deploy the flow processing unit on it.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S4, the path information set is obtained in the following manner: all the entry satellites and exit satellites whose accessible time periods overlap are determined based on the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, and the path information set is composed of the start time and end time of the accessible time period of all the entry satellites, exit satellites and user terminals on the entry satellite that overlaps with the accessible time period of the ground station on the exit satellite:

[0009] L={T s , T e , Sat i , Sat j}

[0010] Among them, L represents the path information set, T s Indicates the starting time when the accessible time period of the user terminal on the entry satellite overlaps with the accessible time period of the ground station on the exit satellite, T e Indicates the end time when the user terminal's accessible time period on the entry satellite coincides with the ground station's accessible time period on the exit satellite. iIndicates the entry satellite, Sat j Indicates an export satellite.

[0011] In some embodiments of the present invention, the step S5 includes: S51, connecting any two satellite nodes that can communicate among all satellite nodes to construct a weighted undirected graph, and calculating the transmission delay between all communicative satellite nodes to determine the weight of the weighted undirected graph; S52, updating the weight of the weighted undirected graph constructed in step S51 based on the information obtained in step S1 and the path information set obtained in step S4 to obtain a weighted undirected graph corresponding to each time period in the path information set; S53, determining the path with the shortest transmission delay for the traffic data in each time period in the path information set when passing through the entry satellite, the exit satellite to the ground station based on the weighted undirected graph corresponding to each time period processed in step S52, and calculating the original transmission delay of the traffic data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period.

[0012] In some embodiments of the present invention, step S52 further includes: counting available resources of all satellite nodes in the updated weighted undirected graph of each time period, and deleting satellite nodes lacking available resources in each time period from the weighted undirected graph of the corresponding time period.

[0013] Preferably, the available resources of all satellite nodes in the weighted undirected graph in each time period are counted in the following manner: the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy of each satellite in the weighted undirected graph in each time period are counted and the difference between the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy is calculated. When the difference is greater than or equal to the resources required for the satellite to forward user terminal traffic, it is determined that the satellite has available resources.

[0014] In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S53, the original transmission delay on the shortest path corresponding to each time period is calculated in the following manner: the transmission delay between two adjacent satellites in the shortest path and the transmission delay between the export satellite and the ground station are calculated, and the two transmission delays are added together to obtain the original transmission delay on the shortest path.

[0015] In some embodiments of the present invention, in step S6, the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period is determined in the following manner: the entry satellite in all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in step S5 is taken as the central node, and all satellites that have the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit and whose transmission delay with the entry satellite is less than the original transmission delay on the shortest path are searched around it, and these satellites are sorted from small to large according to the transmission delay to obtain the satellite deployment queue of the shortest path in each time period, and the traffic processing unit is deployed in all satellites in all satellite deployment queues.

[0016] Preferably, the following method is used to search for satellites that have the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit: taking the entry satellite as the central satellite, the total resources and resource occupancy of the satellites around it are counted and the difference between the total resources and the resource occupancy is calculated. The satellite whose difference is greater than or equal to the cost resource of deploying the traffic processing unit on the satellite has the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit.

[0017] According to a second aspect of the present invention, a traffic processing unit deployment device is provided, which is used to deploy the traffic processing unit on a satellite, and the device includes: an information acquisition module, which is used to acquire the position of a user terminal, the position of a ground station, the satellite motion trajectory, and the satellite beam coverage; an information processing module, which is used to calculate all the inlet satellites that the user terminal corresponds to and can access based on the information obtained by the information acquisition module, and calculate the accessible time period of the user terminal on each inlet satellite, so as to form an inlet satellite information set; and calculate all the outlet satellites that the ground station corresponds to and can access based on the information obtained by the information acquisition module, and calculate the accessible time period of the ground station on each outlet satellite, so as to form an outlet satellite information set; a path processing module, which is used to calculate the inlet satellite information set according to the inlet satellite information set. and an export satellite information set to obtain a flow data path information set of the user terminal, wherein the path information set includes an entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and an export satellite accessible to the ground station on the data flow transmission path of the user terminal in each time period; a path selection module is used to select, from the path information set obtained by the path processing module, a path with the shortest transmission delay of the flow data from the entry satellite and the export satellite to the ground station in each time period according to the available resources of each satellite, and calculate the original transmission delay of the flow data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period; a satellite deployment module is used to determine the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period with all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in the path selection module and deploy the flow processing unit thereon.

[0018] According to a third aspect of the present invention, a traffic scheduling method for a satellite system is provided, the method comprising the following steps: F1, deploying a traffic processing unit on the satellite using the method described in the first aspect of the present invention; F2, processing traffic data of the user terminal based on the traffic processing unit deployed in step F1.

[0019] Compared with the prior art, the advantages of the present invention are: (1) deploying a traffic processing unit on a satellite enables traffic data to be processed on the satellite, while reducing the transmission delay of traffic data in the inter-satellite link and the transmission delay between the satellite and the ground link, thereby improving the processing efficiency of traffic data; (2) when the on-satellite traffic processing unit is not sufficient to process all traffic data, the shortest path can be used to forward the traffic data to the ground station for processing, thereby ensuring that all traffic data can be processed while reducing unnecessary transmission delays. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The embodiments of the present invention are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0021] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of satellite communication under the existing technology;

[0022] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of satellite communication with intersatellite links under the existing technology;

[0023] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a satellite communication network structure with an on-board virtual network function under the prior art;

[0024] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the flow chart of the on-board traffic processing unit deployment method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of an example of a time period during which a user terminal and a ground station access a satellite according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of an example of a satellite communication network structure in which an on-board traffic processing unit is deployed according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 7 This is a structural diagram of a traffic processing unit deployment device according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more clearly understood, the present invention is further described in detail by specific embodiments below. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0029] As mentioned in the background technology, there are two problems in the prior art. On the one hand, the satellite moves at high speed relative to the ground, the network topology changes over time, and the traffic data may need to pass through the intersatellite link composed of multiple satellites to reach the ground station. At this time, there may be intersatellite transmission delay in the transmission of traffic data, and the existence of intersatellite transmission delay will seriously affect the processing efficiency of traffic data; on the other hand, researchers proposed to deploy virtual network functions on satellites (for the convenience of understanding, the present invention refers to the virtual network function deployed on the satellite as the on-satellite traffic processing unit) to improve the processing efficiency of traffic data, but the satellite moves at high speed relative to the ground, and the network topology changes over time. There is no effective solution for deploying virtual network functions on the satellite under the prior art. Among them, it should be noted that the virtual network function is the virtualization of the network function, which refers to the use of general hardware and virtualization technology to enable more network functions to be processed in software without relying on specific hardware. For example, different types of network devices are constructed into a data center network, virtualized to form a virtual machine by borrowing virtualization technology, and then the network function is deployed on the virtual machine. The main purpose of deploying virtual network functions on satellites is to be able to process traffic data sent from user terminals on satellite. Therefore, for better understanding, the present invention refers to the deployment of virtual network functions on satellites as deploying traffic processing units on satellites. In subsequent embodiments, deploying traffic processing units on satellites means deploying virtual network functions on satellites.

[0030] In view of the above defects, the present invention proposes a solution that can effectively reduce the inter-satellite transmission delay and effectively deploy the on-board traffic processing unit. In the solution of the present invention, the transmission path of the traffic data within a specific time is planned by obtaining the user position, the ground station position, the satellite motion trajectory and the coverage of the satellite beam, and the on-board resources and transmission delay are used as constraints to determine the optimal solution for deploying the on-board traffic processing unit on the satellite.

[0031] In order to better understand the present invention, the scheme of the present invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0032] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the present invention proposes a method for deploying an onboard traffic processing unit for a satellite system, wherein the satellite system includes a plurality of satellite nodes, each of which can receive traffic data from a user terminal and forward it to a ground station for processing, and the traffic processing unit is used to process the user terminal traffic on the satellite. Figure 4 As shown, the method deploys a traffic processing unit on the satellite for the user terminal according to steps S1-S6, and each step is described in detail below.

[0033] In step S1, the position of the user terminal, the position of the ground station, the satellite motion trajectory and the satellite beam coverage are obtained. For those skilled in the art, how to obtain the position of the user terminal, the position of the ground station, the satellite motion trajectory and the satellite beam coverage is a prior art, and the present invention will not be repeated here.

[0034] In step S2, all the entry satellites that the user terminal can access are calculated based on the information obtained in step S1, and the accessible time period of the user terminal on each entry satellite is calculated. All the entry satellites and the accessible time period of the user terminal on them constitute an entry satellite information set. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the entry satellite information set is expressed as:

[0035] S={Ts i ,Te i , Sat i |i∈user-accessible entry satellite}

[0036] Among them, S represents the entry satellite information set, Ts i Indicates that the user terminal is at the entry satellite Sat i The starting time of the accessible time period, Te i Indicates that the user terminal is at the entry satellite Sat i The end time of the accessible time period on the i-th entry satellite is represented by (Ts i ,Te i ).

[0037] In step S3, all the exit satellites that the ground station can access are calculated based on the information obtained in step S1, and the accessible time period of the ground station on each exit satellite is calculated. All the exit satellites and the accessible time period of the ground station on them constitute an exit satellite information set. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the exit satellite information set is expressed as:

[0038] D={Ts j ,Te j , Sat j |j∈Export satellite accessible by ground station}

[0039] Where D represents the export satellite information set, Ts j Indicates that the ground station is at the export satellite Sat j The starting time of the accessible time period, Te j Indicates that the ground station is at the export satellite Sat j The end time of the accessible time period on the ground station. The accessible time period for the ground station to access the jth export satellite is expressed as (Ts j ,Te j ).

[0040] In step S4, a traffic data path information set of the user terminal is obtained according to the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, wherein the path information set includes the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station on the data traffic transmission path of the user terminal in each time period.

[0041] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S4, the path information set is obtained in the following manner:

[0042] Based on the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, all entry satellites and exit satellites with overlapping accessible time periods are determined, and the path information set is composed of the start time and end time of the accessible time period of all entry satellites, exit satellites and user terminals on the entry satellite that overlaps with the accessible time period of the ground station on the exit satellite:

[0043] L={T s , T e , Sat i , Sat j}

[0044] Among them, L represents the path information set, T s Indicates the starting time when the accessible time period of the user terminal on the entry satellite overlaps with the accessible time period of the ground station on the exit satellite, T e Indicates the end time when the user terminal's accessible time period on the entry satellite coincides with the ground station's accessible time period on the exit satellite. i Indicates the entry satellite, Sat j It should be noted that there are four situations in which the user terminal can access the entry satellite and the ground station can access the exit satellite: 1. (Ts i ,Te i )∈(Ts j ,Te j ), at this time the export satellite Sat j The access time period includes the entry satellite Sat i Accessible time period; 2. At this time, the entry satellite Sat i The access time period includes the export satellite Sat j Accessible time period; 3. (Ts i ,Te i )∩(Ts j ,Te j ), at this time the entry satellite Sat i The access time period and export satellite Satj There are overlapping parts in the accessible time periods; 4. At this time, the entry satellite Sat i The access time period and export satellite Sat j There is no overlap in the access time period. Combining the above four situations, it can be seen that when the entry satellite Sat i Export SatelliteSat j The accessible time period exists (Ts i ,Te i )∈(Ts j ,Te j ), (Ts i ,Te i )∩(Ts j ,Te j ) In these three cases, the entry satellite Sat i Export SatelliteSat j There is an overlapping time period in the accessible time period. If there is an overlapping time period, it means that both the user terminal and the ground station can access the satellite during this overlapping time period. Then the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through the entry satellite and the exit satellite (the entry satellite and the exit satellite can communicate directly or through inter-satellite links).

[0045] According to an example of the present invention, Figure 5 As shown, it shows the accessible satellites of the user terminal and their accessible time periods and the accessible satellites of the ground station and their accessible time periods. Figure 5 The accessible satellites and accessible time period information of the user terminal shown in determine the entry satellite information set:

[0046]

[0047] The entry satellite information set indicates that during the time period t1-t3, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat1, during the time period t3-t4, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat2, during the time period t4-t6, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat3, and during the time period t6-t8, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat4.

[0048] according to Figure 5 The accessible satellites and accessible time periods of the ground station shown in the figure determine the export satellite information set:

[0049]

[0050] The export satellite information set indicates that during the time period t1-t2, the export satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat5, during the time period t2-t5, the export satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat6, during the time period t5-t7, the export satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat7, and during the time period t7-t9, the export satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat8.

[0051] Satellites can certainly communicate with each other directly or through intersatellite links, so as long as the user terminal has an accessible satellite and the ground station has an accessible satellite in the same time period, a path from the user terminal to the ground station via the satellite can be obtained. At this time, the path can determine the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station. According to the four situations described in the above embodiment, all entry satellites and exit satellites with overlapping accessible time periods are determined based on the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set to form a path information set:

[0052]

[0053] The path information set indicates that: in the time period t1-t2, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat1, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat5. In this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat1 and Sat5; in the time period t2-t3, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat1, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat6. In this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat1 and Sat6; in the time period t3-t4, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat2, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat6. In this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat2 and Sat6; in the time period t4-t5, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat3, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat6. The exit satellite is Sat6. During this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat3 and Sat6; during the time period t5-t6, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat3, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat7. During this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat3 and Sat7; during the time period t6-t7, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat4, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat7. During this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat4 and Sat7; during the time period t7-t8, the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal is Sat4, and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station is Sat8. During this time period, the traffic data of the user terminal can reach the ground station through Sat4 and Sat8. It should be noted that the above example shows the situation where the satellite beams are connected but not intersecting. In the actual satellite system, there is an overlapping area between adjacent satellite beams, and the user terminal can complete satellite switching within the satellite beam overlapping area.

[0054] In step S5, based on the available resources of each satellite, the path with the shortest transmission delay for the traffic data through the entry satellite and the exit satellite to the ground station in each time period is selected from the path information set of step S4, and the original transmission delay of the traffic data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period is calculated.

[0055] According to one embodiment of the present invention, step S5 includes:

[0056] S51. Connect any two satellite nodes that can communicate among all satellite nodes to construct a weighted undirected graph, and calculate the transmission delay between all communicable satellite nodes to determine the weight of the weighted undirected graph, the weighted undirected graph G = (V, E, W), where V represents all satellite nodes in the satellite system, E represents the intersatellite link of any two satellites that can communicate, and W represents the weight, which is determined by the transmission delay of the intersatellite link of any two satellites that can communicate. It should be noted that the weighted undirected graph is a technology known to those skilled in the art, and the present invention will not be described in detail.

[0057] S52: Based on the information obtained in step S1 and the path information set obtained in step S4, the weight of the weighted undirected graph constructed in step S51 is updated to obtain a weighted undirected graph corresponding to each time period in the path information set.

[0058] S53, counting the available resources of all satellite nodes in the weighted undirected graph of each time period, and deleting the satellite nodes lacking available resources in each time period from the weighted undirected graph of the corresponding time period.

[0059] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S53, the available resources of all satellite nodes in the weighted undirected graph in each time period are counted in the following manner: the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy of each satellite in the weighted undirected graph in each time period are counted and the difference between the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy is calculated. When the difference is greater than or equal to the resources required for the satellite to forward the user terminal traffic, it is determined that the satellite has available resources. It should be noted that the total amount of resources of the satellite is determined by factors such as the satellite computing resources, link bandwidth, and storage resources; the satellite resource occupancy is determined by the resource occupancy of the current traffic data of the satellite in the future.

[0060] S54, based on the weighted undirected graph of each time period processed in step S53, determine the path with the shortest transmission delay when the flow data in each time period in the path information set passes through the entry satellite, the exit satellite to the ground station, and calculate the original transmission delay of the flow data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period. It should be noted that the shortest path can be determined by using the Dijkstra algorithm or the traversal method.

[0061] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S54, the original transmission delay on the shortest path corresponding to each time period is calculated in the following manner: the transmission delay between two adjacent satellites in the shortest path and the transmission delay between the export satellite and the ground station are calculated, and the original transmission delay on the shortest path is obtained by adding the first two transmission delays.

[0062] In step S6, the entry satellite in all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in step S5 is taken as the central node, and all satellites that have the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit and whose transmission delay with the entry satellite is less than the original transmission delay on the shortest path are searched around it, and these satellites are sorted from small to large according to the transmission delay to obtain the satellite deployment queue of the shortest path in each time period, and the traffic processing unit is deployed in all satellites in all satellite deployment queues.

[0063] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S6, a satellite having the resources required to configure a traffic processing unit is searched for in the following manner: taking the entry satellite as the central satellite, the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy of the satellites around it are counted, and the difference between the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy is calculated. The satellite whose difference is greater than or equal to the cost resource of deploying the traffic processing unit on the satellite has the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit.

[0064] According to the above embodiments, a satellite communication network structure with an onboard traffic processing unit can be obtained, and the traffic data of the user terminal can be processed based on the network structure. During the processing, the satellite with the onboard traffic processing unit prioritizes delay-sensitive traffic data, and non-delay-sensitive traffic data is transmitted to the ground station for processing via the shortest path described in the above embodiments, or transmitted to the ground station via the shortest path and then forwarded to the data center network for processing. It should be noted that the delay requirements of the traffic data determine whether it is delay-sensitive traffic data or non-delay-sensitive traffic data.

[0065] According to an example of the present invention, Figure 6 As shown, it shows a satellite communication network structure with on-board traffic processing units deployed according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the satellite deployment queues are: satellite 4, satellite 5, satellite 3, satellite 9, and the shortest path is: satellite 4-satellite 5-satellite 8. The process of scheduling and processing traffic data based on the network structure is:

[0066] When the received traffic data is delay-sensitive data, it is processed by the traffic processing unit on satellite 4; when the received traffic data is delay-sensitive data and cannot be processed on satellite 4, it is forwarded by satellite 4 to satellite 5 for processing; when the received traffic data is delay-sensitive data and cannot be processed on satellites 4 and 5, it is forwarded by satellite 4 to satellite 3 for processing; when the received traffic data is delay-sensitive data and cannot be processed on satellites 4, 5, and 3, it is forwarded by satellite 4 to satellite 9 for processing; when the received traffic data is delay-sensitive data and cannot be processed on satellites 4, 5, 3, and 9, the traffic data is transmitted to the ground station via satellite 4-satellite 5-satellite 8 for processing, or the traffic data is transmitted to the ground station via satellite 4-satellite 5-satellite 8 and then forwarded to the data center network for processing.

[0067] When the received traffic data is non-delay sensitive data, the traffic data is transmitted to the ground station via Satellite 4-Satellite 5-Satellite 8 for processing, or the traffic data is transmitted to the ground station via Satellite 4-Satellite 5-Satellite 8 and then forwarded to the data center network for processing.

[0068] According to one embodiment of the present invention, Figure 7 As shown, a traffic processing unit deployment device is provided, which is used to deploy the traffic processing unit on a satellite, and the device includes: an information acquisition module, which is used to acquire the position of a user terminal, the position of a ground station, the satellite motion trajectory, and the satellite beam coverage; an information processing module, which is used to calculate all the inlet satellites that the user terminal corresponds to and can access based on the information obtained by the information acquisition module, and calculate the accessible time period of the user terminal on each inlet satellite, so as to form an inlet satellite information set; and calculate all the outlet satellites that the ground station corresponds to and can access based on the information obtained by the information acquisition module, and calculate the accessible time period of the ground station on each outlet satellite, so as to form an outlet satellite information set; a path processing module, which is used to calculate the inlet satellite information set and the outlet satellite information set according to the inlet satellite information set and the outlet satellite information set. The satellite information set is used to obtain the traffic data path information set of the user terminal, wherein the path information set includes the entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and the exit satellite accessible to the ground station on the data traffic transmission path of the user terminal in each time period; the path selection module is used to select, from the path information set obtained by the path processing module according to the available resources of each satellite, the path with the shortest transmission delay of the traffic data from the entry satellite and the exit satellite to the ground station in each time period, and calculate the original transmission delay of the traffic data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period; the satellite deployment module is used to determine the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period with all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in the path selection module and deploy the traffic processing unit thereon.

[0069] The beneficial effects of the present invention are: (1) deploying a traffic processing unit on a satellite can enable traffic data to be processed on the satellite, while reducing the transmission delay of traffic data in the inter-satellite link and the transmission delay between the satellite and the ground link, thereby improving the processing efficiency of traffic data; (2) when the on-satellite traffic processing unit is not sufficient to process all traffic data, the shortest path can be used to forward the traffic data to the ground station for processing, thereby ensuring that all traffic data can be processed while reducing unnecessary transmission delays.

[0070] It should be noted that although the above describes the various steps in a specific order, it does not mean that the various steps must be executed in the above specific order. In fact, some of these steps can be executed concurrently or even in a different order as long as the required functions can be achieved.

[0071] The present invention may be a system, a method and / or a computer program product. The computer program product may include a computer-readable storage medium carrying computer-readable program instructions for causing a processor to implement various aspects of the present invention.

[0072] Computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that holds and stores instructions used by an instruction execution device. Computer readable storage medium can include, for example, but is not limited to, an electrical storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of computer readable storage medium include: a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanical encoding device, for example, a punch card or a protruding structure in a groove on which instructions are stored, and any suitable combination thereof.

[0073] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, and the above description is exemplary, not exhaustive, and is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The selection of terms used herein is intended to best explain the principles of the embodiments, practical applications, or technical improvements in the market, or to enable other persons of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for deploying an onboard traffic processing unit for a satellite system, wherein: The satellite system includes a plurality of satellite nodes, each of which can receive traffic data from a user terminal and forward it to a ground station for processing, and the traffic processing unit is used to process user traffic on the satellite. The method includes deploying a traffic processing unit on the satellite for the user terminal according to the following steps: S1. Obtain the location of the user terminal, the location of the ground station, the satellite motion trajectory and the satellite beam coverage; S2. Based on the information obtained in step S1, calculate all the entry satellites that the user terminal can access and the accessible time period of the user terminal on each entry satellite to form an entry satellite information set; S3, based on the information obtained in step S1, calculate all the export satellites that the ground station can access and calculate the accessible time period of the ground station on each export satellite to form an export satellite information set; S4. Obtaining a flow data path information set of the user terminal according to the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, wherein the path information set includes an entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and an exit satellite accessible to the ground station on the data flow transmission path of the user terminal in each time period; S5. According to the available resources of each satellite, select from the path information set of step S4 the path with the shortest transmission delay of the traffic data from the entry satellite and the exit satellite to the ground station in each time period, and calculate the original transmission delay of the traffic data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period; S6. Determine the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period using all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in step S5 and deploy the traffic processing unit thereon.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that In step S4, the path information set is obtained in the following manner: Based on the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, all entry satellites and exit satellites with overlapping accessible time periods are determined, and the path information set is composed of the start time and end time of the accessible time period of all entry satellites, exit satellites and user terminals on the entry satellite that overlaps with the accessible time period of the ground station on the exit satellite: L={T s ,T e ,Sat i ,Sat j } Among them, L represents the path information set, T s Indicates the starting time when the accessible time period of the user terminal on the entry satellite overlaps with the accessible time period of the ground station on the exit satellite, T e Indicates the end time when the user terminal's accessible time period on the entry satellite coincides with the ground station's accessible time period on the exit satellite. i Indicates the entry satellite, Sat j Indicates an export satellite.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step S5 comprises: S51, connecting any two satellite nodes that can communicate among all satellite nodes to construct a weighted undirected graph, and calculating the transmission delay between all communicative satellite nodes to determine the weight of the weighted undirected graph; S52, based on the information obtained in step S1 and the path information set obtained in step S4, updating the weight of the weighted undirected graph constructed in step S51 to obtain a weighted undirected graph corresponding to each time period in the path information set; S53. Based on the weighted graph corresponding to each time period processed in step S52, determine the path with the shortest transmission delay for the traffic data in each time period in the path information set via the entry satellite, the exit satellite to the ground station, and calculate the original transmission delay of the traffic data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The step S52 further includes: The available resources of all satellite nodes in the weighted undirected graph of each time period after the update are counted, and the satellite nodes lacking available resources in each time period are deleted from the weighted undirected graph of the corresponding time period.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The available resources of all satellite nodes in the weighted undirected graph in each time period are counted in the following way: The total amount of resources and resource occupancy of each satellite in the weighted undirected graph in each time period are counted and the difference between the total amount of resources and the resource occupancy is calculated. When the difference is greater than or equal to the resources required for the satellite to forward the user terminal traffic, it is determined that the satellite has available resources.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that In step S53, the original transmission delay on the shortest path corresponding to each time period is calculated in the following manner: The transmission delay between two adjacent satellites in the shortest path and the transmission delay between the export satellite and the ground station are calculated and the two transmission delays are added together to obtain the original transmission delay on the shortest path.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that In step S6, the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period is determined in the following manner: Taking the entry satellite in all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in step S5 as the central node, search around it for all satellites that have the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit and whose transmission delay with the entry satellite is less than the original transmission delay on the shortest path, and sort these satellites from small to large according to the transmission delay to obtain the satellite deployment queue of the shortest path in each time period, and deploy the traffic processing unit in all satellites in all satellite deployment queues.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that Search for satellites that have the resources required to configure a traffic processing unit in the following manner: Taking the entry satellite as the central satellite, the total resources and resource occupancy of the surrounding satellites are counted and the difference between the total resources and the resource occupancy is calculated. The satellite whose difference is greater than or equal to the cost resource of deploying the traffic processing unit on the satellite has the resources required to configure the traffic processing unit.

9. A traffic processing unit deployment device, used for deploying a traffic processing unit on a satellite, characterized in that: The device comprises: An information acquisition module is used to obtain the location of the user terminal, the location of the ground station, the satellite motion trajectory, and the satellite beam coverage; An information processing module is used to calculate all the entry satellites that the user terminal can access based on the information obtained by the information acquisition module and calculate the accessible time period of the user terminal on each entry satellite to form an entry satellite information set; and calculate all the exit satellites that the ground station can access based on the information obtained by the information acquisition module and calculate the accessible time period of the ground station on each exit satellite to form an exit satellite information set; A path processing module is used to obtain a flow data path information set of the user terminal according to the entry satellite information set and the exit satellite information set, wherein the path information set includes an entry satellite accessible to the user terminal and an exit satellite accessible to the ground station on the data flow transmission path of the user terminal in each time period; A path selection module is used to select, from the path information set obtained by the path processing module, the path with the shortest transmission delay for the flow data through the entry satellite and the exit satellite to the ground station in each time period according to the available resources of each satellite, and calculate the original transmission delay of the flow data on the shortest path corresponding to each time period; The satellite deployment module is used to determine the satellite deployment queue corresponding to each time period based on all the shortest paths corresponding to each time period selected in the path selection module and deploy the traffic processing unit thereon.

10. A traffic scheduling method for a satellite system, characterized in that: The method comprises the following steps: F1. Deploy a traffic processing unit on a satellite using the method described in any one of claims 1 to 8; F2. Process the traffic data of the user terminal based on the traffic processing unit deployed in step F1.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: A computer program is stored thereon, and the computer program can be executed by a processor to implement the steps of any method described in claims 1-8 and 10.

12. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: one or more processors; A storage device for storing one or more programs, when the one or more programs are executed by the one or more processors, enables the electronic device to implement the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1-8 and 10.

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