Satellite Infrastructure Sharing: Orbit-Structured Stochastic Geometry Modeling and Connectivity Analysis in Heterogeneous Satellite Networks
2026-08-12 • Information Theory
Information Theory
AI summaryⓘ
The authors create a mathematical model to study how multiple low Earth orbit satellite systems, operated independently, can share space and resources to provide better global coverage. They use a special statistical method to represent the random positions and coverage areas of various satellites. Their model helps analyze key factors like how often users can connect, signal strength, and interference between satellites. The results, backed by simulations, show how satellite locations and coverage overlap affect performance and the trade-offs involved in sharing infrastructure.
Low Earth Orbit (LEO)Satellite constellationsSpherical Cox point processCoverage regionSignal-to-interference ratio (SIR)Infrastructure sharingBoolean modelConnectivityInterference-limited regimeOrbital geometry
Authors
Chang-Sik Choi
Abstract
This paper develops an analytical framework to evaluate the feasibility and performance of satellite infrastructure sharing among multiple low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite operators. Motivated by the growing demand for universal connectivity under limited satellite resources, the proposed model captures uncoordinated deployments where independently operated constellations coexist without predefined orbital agreements. To describe such heterogeneous configurations, the spherical Cox point process is employed to jointly generate orbital structures and satellites. Then, each satellite is further assigned a random communication range, reflecting variations in coverage capability across operators. The overall coverage region is modeled through a spherical Cox-Boolean model that captures the spatial overlap of individual satellite spherical footprints on Earth. Using the proposed framework, the feasibility and benefits of satellite infrastructure sharing are mathematically analyzed, and closed-form expressions are derived for key performance metrics such as the connection probability, connection number, and downlink signal characteristics including the nearest serving distance, total received signal power, and the signal-to-interference ratio (SIR) distribution in the interference-limited regime. The analytical results, validated through system-level simulations, provide a tractable characterization of how orbital geometry governs coverage, connectivity, and interference, and reveal the inherent trade-offs induced by coverage overlap in heterogeneous satellite constellations.