Performance modeling framework for IoT-over-satellite using shared radio spectrum

Abstract

Delivering Internet-of-Things (IoT) connectivity over satellite is a promising solution for applications in remote and sparsely populated areas. These applications range from smart agriculture, logistics, asset tracking to emergency services. Using a shared radio spectrum with terrestrial services will facilitate a cost-effective and rapid deployment of IoT-over-Satellite since it reduces the administrative and financial hurdles of leasing a dedicated segment of the spectrum. Although IoT-over-Satellite communication provides larger service coverage, the vast number of IoT devices also increase the interference in the satellite uplink channel, and it becomes a significant challenge for the reliable performance of the IoT-over-satellite. In this paper, we propose a framework for modeling the performance of IoT-over-Satellite access systems when sharing the radio spectrum with terrestrial networks. We take into consideration several important aspects, namely; satellite orbit, terrestrial IoT devices uplink interference, atmosphere and gas absorption, and the probability of line-of-sight. The performance of the overall system is presented in terms of the uplink signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and thus the time-availability of the satellite link during a typical pass. We focus on low earth orbit satellites due to their potential use in IoT applications, where we evaluate the framework using actual parameters of satellites located in 300-800 km orbits. Furthermore, the paper presents a numercial model to obtain the most suitable antenna beamwidth that maximizes the link-availability of the satellite link by the simultaneous reduction in the terrestrial interference and the boosting of the underlying IoT signal of interest.