Low-latency data transmission routing method for LEO satellites considering laser antenna alignment overhead

doi:10.11772/j.issn.1001-9081.2025020140

Journal of Computer Applications ›› 2026, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (1): 198-206.DOI: 10.11772/j.issn.1001-9081.2025020140

• Network and communications • Previous Articles Next Articles

Low-latency data transmission routing method for LEO satellites considering laser antenna alignment overhead

Zifen HE¹^,², Deze ZENG¹^,²(), Lifeng TIAN¹^,², Yuepeng LI¹^,², Jiayu ZHANG¹^,²

^1.School of Future Technology，China University of Geosciences （Wuhan），Wuhan Hubei 430078，China
^2.School of Computer Science，China University of Geosciences （Wuhan），Wuhan Hubei 430078，China

Received:2025-02-14 Revised:2025-03-06 Accepted:2025-03-12 Online:2026-01-10 Published:2026-01-10
Contact: Deze ZENG
About author:HE Zifen， born in 2001， M. S. candidate. Her research interests include satellite communication.
TIAN Lifeng， born in 1993， Ph. D. candidate. His research interests include satellite edge computing.
LI Yuepeng， born in 1994， Ph. D. candidate. His research interests include edge computing.
ZHANG Jiayu， born in 2000， M. S. candidate. His research interests include satellite edge computing.
Supported by:
National Natural Science Foundation of China(62172375);Hubei Provincial Key Research and Development Program(2023BAB065);“CUG Scholar” Scientific Research Fund of China University of Geosciences （Wuhan）(2022179)

考虑激光天线对准开销的LEO卫星低延迟数据传输路由方法

何梓芬¹^,², 曾德泽¹^,²(), 田厉锋¹^,², 李跃鹏¹^,², 张佳宇¹^,²

^1.中国地质大学（武汉）未来技术学院，武汉 430078
^2.中国地质大学（武汉）计算机学院，武汉 430078

通讯作者: 曾德泽
作者简介:何梓芬（2001—），女，湖北黄冈人，硕士研究生，主要研究方向：卫星通信
田厉锋（1993—），男，江苏徐州人，博士研究生，主要研究方向：卫星边缘计算
李跃鹏（1994—），男，河南郑州人，博士研究生，主要研究方向：边缘计算
张佳宇（2000—），男，河北唐山人，硕士研究生，主要研究方向：卫星边缘计算。
基金资助:
国家自然科学基金资助项目(62172375);湖北省重点研发计划项目(2023BAB065);中国地质大学（武汉） “地大学者”科研基金资助项目(2022179)

Abstract

Abstract:

In recent years， the growing number of Low Earth Orbit （LEO） satellites and their enhanced capabilities have enabled LEO constellations to undertake a wider range of in-orbit missions， resulting in exponential growth in satellite data transmission volumes. Emerging Laser Communication （LC） technology， with its higher bandwidth advantage， significantly improves the efficiency of Inter-Satellite Link （ISL） data transmission. However， LC-based inter-satellite communication first requires alignment between the transmitting and receiving antennas， a process that incurs considerable time overhead. Furthermore， the limited number of laser transceivers onboard satellites increases communication latency， while unreasonable laser routing and link planning strategies can further exacerbate delays. To address these challenges， this study investigated the satellite routing communication link planning problem considering laser antenna alignment overhead， and formulates it as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming （MILP） model to minimize total communication time. As the problem was proven to be NP-hard， a low-overhead approximation algorithm named Relay Satellite Laser Routing （RSLR） was proposed. The performance of RSLR was compared with two baseline algorithms： Average Latency-based Persistent Routing （ALPR） and Minimum Hop Earliest Arrival （MHEA）. Experimental results show that the RSLR algorithm reduces communication latency by 10.3% and 12.5%， respectively， compared to ALPR and MHEA， confirming its effectiveness in lowering delays in satellite data transmission.

Key words: satellite constellation, data transmission, Laser Communication (LC), laser antenna alignment, routing strategy

摘要：

近年来，随着低地球轨道（LEO）卫星数量的增加和性能的提升， LEO卫星星座承担了更广泛的在轨任务，进而导致卫星数据的传输量呈指数级增长。新兴的激光通信（LC）技术凭借更高带宽的优势显著提升了星间链路（ISL）数据通信的效率。然而，基于LC的星间通信必须先进行发射天线和接收天线的对准，且该对准过程会产生较高的时间开销。不仅如此，卫星上的激光收发天线数量有限将增加通信延迟，而不合理的激光路由通信链路规划策略还将进一步增加通信延迟。为了应对以上挑战，研究激光天线对准开销的卫星路由通信链路规划问题，并将该问题转化为一个混合整数线性规划（MILP）问题，以降低数据传输总通信时间；由于该问题被证明为NP难问题，提出一种中继卫星激光路由规划（RSLR）低开销近似算法；将RSLR算法与基于平均延迟的持久路由（ALPR）和最少跳最早到达路由（MHEA）进行对比。实验结果表明，与ALPR算法和MHEA算法相比，RSLR算法能将卫星数据传输的延迟分别降低10.3%和12.5%，验证了所提算法在降低通信延迟方面的有效性。

关键词: 卫星星座, 数据传输, 激光通信, 激光天线对准, 路由策略

CLC Number:

TP393

Zifen HE, Deze ZENG, Lifeng TIAN, Yuepeng LI, Jiayu ZHANG. Low-latency data transmission routing method for LEO satellites considering laser antenna alignment overhead[J]. Journal of Computer Applications, 2026, 46(1): 198-206.

何梓芬, 曾德泽, 田厉锋, 李跃鹏, 张佳宇. 考虑激光天线对准开销的LEO卫星低延迟数据传输路由方法[J]. 《计算机应用》唯一官方网站, 2026, 46(1): 198-206.

Figures/Tables 9

Fig. 1 Process of inter-satellite laser link establishment and data transmission for LEO satellites

Fig. 2 Impact of different laser routing planning strategies on total data transmission time

Tab. 1 Task properties of top five tasks

序号	起点卫星	终点卫星	任务大小/GB
1	$s 1$	$s 3$	2
2	$s 2$	$s 7$	1
3	$s 2$	$s 9$	4
4	$s 3$	$s 5$	10
5	$s 4$	$s 6$	2

Tab. 1 Task properties of top five tasks

序号	起点卫星	终点卫星	任务大小/GB
1	$s 1$	$s 3$	2
2	$s 2$	$s 7$	1
3	$s 2$	$s 9$	4
4	$s 3$	$s 5$	10
5	$s 4$	$s 6$	2

Fig. 3 Impact of satellite bandwidth

Fig. 4 Impact of the number of receiving antennas

Fig. 5 Impact of the number of transmitting antennas

Fig. 6 Impact of antenna rotational angular velocity

Fig. 7 Impact of the number of satellites

Fig. 8 Impact of data size

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Low-latency data transmission routing method for LEO satellites considering laser antenna alignment overhead

考虑激光天线对准开销的LEO卫星低延迟数据传输路由方法

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