Distributed LEO Satellite Virtual Swarm

A low earth orbit (LEO) observation satellite offers a shorter distance to the target area, low cost, and low communication latency. The low orbit translates to high orbital speed and results in short observation and communication contact periods. Swarms of multiple satellites offer extended coverage and spatial resolution for applications such as earth observation and monitoring. LEO communication satellite constellations create a network that includes hundreds to tens of thousands of satellites with onboard processing capabilities (as routing nodes) connected by Inter-Satellite Links (ISL) that provide continuous coverage of the earth. The LEO constellations aim to provide end-to-end routing between multiple gateways and terminals. This paper assumes the LEO constellation satellite payload includes sensors and processing capabilities. We explore the problem of managing an autonomous LEO virtual satellite swarm that will provide continuous and adjustable coverage. We preset a novel virtual swarm: a subset of the constellation satellites is dynamically assigned to the swarm when they cover the target area. The virtual swarm algorithm provides distributed data synchronization among the swarm virtual satellites and a distributed dynamic assignment of physical satellites to the virtual swarm satellites.