Stochastic Analysis of Satellite Broadband by Mega-Constellations with Inclined LEOs

Abstract: As emerging massive constellations are intended to provide seamless connectivity for remote areas using hundreds of small low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, new methodologies have great importance to study the performance of these networks. In this paper, we derive both downlink and uplink analytical expressions for coverage probability and data rate of an inclined LEO constellation under general fading, regardless of exact satellites' positions. Our solution involves two phases as we, first, abstract the network into a uniformly distributed network. Secondly, we obtain a new parameter, effective number of satellites, for every user's latitude which compensates for the performance mismatch between the actual and uniform constellations. In addition to exact derivation of the network performance metrics, this study provides insight into selecting the constellation parameters, e.g., the total number of satellites, altitude, and inclination angle.