A connection admission control algorithm for low Earth orbit satellite networks

In this paper, a connection admission control algorithm, referred to as the geographical connection admission control (GCAC) algorithm, is introduced to handle the spot-beam handovers in the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks. Spotbeam handovers occur frequently because of the small spotbeams and high satellite speed. The GCAC algorithm admits a new call into the network only if the expected handover call blocking probability of the new and the existing calls is not increased beyond a system threshold. The algorithm utilizes the deterministic satellite movement pattern and the user locations to estimate the expected handover call blocking probability. The experimental results show that the algorithm limits the handover call blocking probability and can handle nonuniform traffic distribution over the coverage area of the network.