A Low-Overhead Online Routing Scheme for Ultra-Dense Software-Defined CubeSat Networks

A system for routing communications through a constellation of a plurality of CubeSats orbiting a planet, comprising:

• (a) a ground controller to which at least a portion of the plurality of CubeSats is responsive, the ground controller configured to determine at least one optimal tunnel that includes a plurality of inter-satellite links between CubeSats in the plurality of CubeSats by executing the steps of:
• (i) generate a virtual network topology by partitioning an orbital surface around the planet into a plurality of Voronoi tessellations and designate each of the Voronoi tessellations as a virtual node;
• (ii) generate the plurality of sub-satellite points so as to correspond to a plurality points on a path through each virtual node that CubeSats of the plurality of CubeSats follow as they transit through each virtual node;
• (iii) for at least a portion of the plurality of sub-satellite points, calculate an inter-satellite link from a first sub-satellite point in a first virtual node to a second sub-satellite point in a different second virtual node during a period for any point of time from a time of initialization when the first sub-satellite point is at an entry point of the first virtual node until the first sub-satellite point is at an exit point of the first virtual node;
• and
• (iv) generate an information packet describing the optimal tunnel that includes a plurality of inter-satellite links that interconnect a portion of the plurality of sub-satellite points during the period;
• and
• (b) the ground controller further configured to transmit the information packet from the ground controller to a selected one of the CubeSats,
• wherein a selected one of the CubeSats is configured to forward the information packet to remaining ones of the CubeSats corresponding to sub-satellite points included in the tunnel.