Method for estimating a number of vehicles in communication with a satellite

A method for estimating a number of vehicles present within an area of visibility of a low Earth orbit, LEO, satellite, the LEO satellite being designed to receive presence signals from vehicles, the method being implemented by a computer on board the LEO satellite, the method comprising:

• incrementing a presence counter for each reception of a presence signal from a vehicle located within the area of visibility of the LEO satellite, and
• estimating the number of vehicles present within the area of visibility of the LEO satellite based on a transmission frequency of the presence signals and on a duration of visibility of the LEO satellite associated with the area of visibility, the duration of visibility corresponding to a time interval during which the satellite receives presence signals from its associated area of visibility and based on the presence counter by using a sliding average method that considers the transmission frequency of the vehicles and the duration of visibility of the satellite.