Online Network Slicing for Real Time Applications in Large-scale Satellite Networks

Abstract: In this work, we investigate resource allocation strategy for real time communication (RTC) over satellite networks with virtual network functions. Enhanced by inter-satellite links (ISLs), in-orbit computing and network virtualization technologies, large-scale satellite networks promise global coverage at low-latency and high-bandwidth for RTC applications with diversified functions. However, realizing RTC with specific function requirements using intermittent ISLs, requires efficient routing methods with fast response times. We identify that such a routing problem over time-varying graph can be formulated as an integer linear programming problem. The branch and bound method incurs $\mathcal{O}(|\mathcal{L}^{\tau}| \cdot (3 |\mathcal{V}^{\tau}| + |\mathcal{L}^{\tau}|)^{|\mathcal{L}^{\tau}|})$ time complexity, where $|\mathcal{V}^{\tau}|$ is the number of nodes, and $|\mathcal{L}^{\tau}|$ is the number of links during time interval ${\tau}$. By adopting a k-shortest path-based algorithm, the theoretical worst case complexity becomes $O(|\mathcal{V}^{\tau}|! \cdot |\mathcal{V}^{\tau}|^3)$. Although it runs fast in most cases, its solution can be sub-optimal and may not be found, resulting in compromised acceptance ratio in practice. To overcome this, we further design a graph-based algorithm by exploiting the special structure of the solution space, which can obtain the optimal solution in polynomial time with a computational complexity of $\mathcal{O}(3|\mathcal{L}^{\tau}| + (2\log{|\mathcal{V}^{\tau}|}+1) |\mathcal{V}^{\tau}|)$. Simulations conducted on starlink constellation with thousands of satellites corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.