A Novel Stable Clustering Design Method for Hierarchical Satellite Network

This article proposes a novel stable clustering design method for hierarchical satellite network in order to increase its stability, reduce the overhead of storage and exert effective control of the delay performances based on a 5-dimensional vector model. According to the function of stability measurement and owing to the limitation of minimal average routing table length, the hierarchical satellite network is grouped into separate stable connected clusters to improve destruction resistance and reconstruction ability in the future integrated network. In each cluster, redundant communication links with little contribution to network stability and slight influences on delay variation are deleted to satisfy the requirements for stability and connectivity by means of optimal link resources, and, also, the idea of logical weight is introduced to select the optimal satellites used to communicate with neighboring cluster satellites. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method are verified by comparing it with the simulated performances of other two typical hierarchical satellite networks, double layer satellite constellation(DLSC) and satellite over satellite(SoS).