An inter-satellite communication device for satellites orbiting within a constellation of satellites comprises at least one optical terminal dedicated to intra-orbital plane communication links and at least one optical terminal dedicated to inter-orbital plane communication links, each optical terminal dedicated to intra-orbital plane communications configured to transmit and receive optical signals with an optical terminal of an identical satellite orbiting in the same orbital plane, each optical terminal dedicated to inter-orbital plane communications configured to transmit and receive optical signals with an optical terminal of an identical satellite in an orbital plane adjacent over the entirety of its orbit in its orbital plane and each optical terminal dedicated to inter-orbital plane communications having a field of regard such that the half-angle at the vertex of the latter is larger than the maximum value of the azimuthal angle over a revolution around the Earth.

There is provided methods and apparatuses for enabling satellite communication across an orbital seam thereby at least in part improving network latency. According to embodiments, methods and apparatuses are provided to improve network connectivity of satellite networks, where satellite mobility together with long signal acquisition times reduce reliable communication across an orbital seam in a satellite network. According to embodiments, the methods and apparatuses apply to non-terrestrial, for example satellite, polar constellation networks configured to provide global communications services, wherein these communications services may not be supported by terrestrial networks, for example wire-based or fibre-based networks.

Radio communications systems use 100 to 200 satellites in random low-earth orbits distributed over a predetermined range of north and south latitudes. The satellites themselves create a radio route between ground stations via radio links between multiple satellites by virtue of onboard global navigation satellite system circuitry for determining the location of the satellite and route creation circuitry for calculating in real time the direction from the satellite's location at a particular instant to a destination ground station. Directional antennas in the satellites transmit routing radio signals to enhance the probability of reception by other satellites. One embodiment facilitates the creation of satellite-to-satellite links by assigning each satellite a unique identifier, storing orbital information defining the locations of all of the orbiting satellites in the system at any particular time, and including in the radio signal the unique identifier associated with the transmitting satellite.

Systems and methods for reliable content delivery from a satellite to sub-edge devices are described. Content is delivered to a plurality of edge devices. Missing portions of the content are identified. One or more of the missing portions are selected, and the selected portions are recovered via a satellite network or a non-satellite network. The recovery is coordinated by a central cloud device based on one or more recovery factors.

The disclosure provides for a system that includes a network controller. The network controller is configured to receive information from nodes of a network, where nodes include one node that is in motion relative to another node. The network controller is also configured to generate a table representing nodes, available storage at each node, and possible links in the network over a period of time based on the information, and determine a series of topologies of the network based on the table. Based on received client data including a data amount, the network controller is configured to determine flows for the topology. The network controller then is configured to generate a schedule of network configurations based on the flows, and send instructions to the nodes of the network for implementing the network configurations and transmitting client data.

A radio communication route enables communication from an originating ground station to a destination ground station via one of multiple randomly orbiting, rotating satellites with no active attitude control. The ground stations and satellites include directional antennas for receiving radio signals from and transmitting radio signals in multiple directions. The satellites store an address of a destination ground station from which an initial information signal is transmitted and antenna information identifying the satellite antenna on which the initial information signal was received. Plural satellite antennas transmit linking information identifying the satellite to the originating ground station. Data transmissions received at the originating ground station that designate a particular destination are transmitted by the originating ground station using the antenna on which the linking information was received and the satellite retransmits the data transmission using the satellite antenna identified by the stored antenna information.

A method for establishing a communication of the IP multimedia subsystem in local routing mode where user data are routed directly at one or more interconnected satellites, without passing through the ground, between two UE terminals connected to a regenerative satellite of a communication network comprising a satellite constellation. A session control function of the IMS core network interrogates a server linked to the satellite constellation with the information relating to the satellite access networks of the two terminals. The server is able to determine, by verification of an inter-satellite link between the regenerative satellites corresponding to the information relating to the satellite access networks of the two terminals, whether local routing of the user plane without passing through the ground is available to directly connect the two terminals are connected by link.

Radio communications systems use 100 to 200 satellites in random low-earth orbits distributed over a predetermined range of north and south latitudes. The satellites themselves create a radio route between ground stations via radio links between multiple satellites by virtue of onboard global navigation satellite system circuitry for determining the location of the satellite and route creation circuitry for calculating in real time the direction from the satellite's location at a particular instant to a destination ground station. Directional antennas in the satellites transmit routing radio signals to enhance the probability of reception by other satellites. One embodiment facilitates the creation of satellite-to-satellite links by assigning each satellite a unique identifier, storing orbital information defining the locations of all of the orbiting satellites in the system at any particular time, and including in the radio signal the unique identifier associated with the transmitting satellite.

Techniques for using one or more satellites as a part of a content delivery network are described. For example, in some instances a satellite of a cluster of satellites is to receive a request for a resource hosted by the content delivery network; determine that the request for the resource cannot be served by the cluster of satellites; determine a first entity to ask for the resource; send a secondary request for the resource to the determined first entity; receive the resource from the determined first entity; and respond, to a user of the content delivery network, to the request using the received resource for the resource.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for supporting estimation of inter-satellite link acquisition times in a satellite constellation. The method includes computing or generating an indication of a statistical model based on observations for prior link acquisition times. The method further includes communicating an indication such as a statistical model for link acquisition times or related parameters through a communication network, or a combination thereof. The indication may be communicated using one or more transmission techniques or protocols, such as flooding, a link state protocol or gossip protocol. Based on the disseminated indication, future link acquisition times can be predicted by satellites in the satellite constellation. Embodiments of the invention use a statistical-based computation approach, such as regression modelling or random variable modelling, to estimate link acquisition times or associated estimation parameters. The estimates or associated estimation parameters may then be disseminated through the constellation.