Integrating geographical information systems in management and orchestration of satellites constellation to achieve a spatial-aware 6G Non-Terrestrial Networks architecture
- Paper ID
85551
- DOI
- author
- company
i2CAT; Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC)
- country
Spain
- year
2024
- abstract
5G networks are expanding rapidly, driven by cloud technologies such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and orchestrated through Management And Orchestration (MANO) Systems. Despite this fast grow, the goal of providing global coverage and serving remote areas remains. Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN), leveraging on satellite constellations, emerge as a transformative solution for 6G, providing seamless and global connectivity. Utilizing virtualization technologies, these satellite constellations can form cooperative clusters and function as distributed data centers in space, able to deploy ubiquitous virtualized based applications. Nevertheless, the dynamic nature and geographical spread of these networks present unique challenges. Traditional MANO systems, designed for terrestrial infrastructures, struggle to address the inherent mobility of satellite nodes and service deployment based in target areas (geographical deployment). The main contribution of this work is the proposal of the integration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) into 6G satellite network management through MANO systems. By harnessing the power of spatial data capture, analysis, and visualization, GIS optimizes resource distribution across the satellite cluster based on location and future network topology prediction. This system can also be used to allow operators to understand coverage patterns and define the geographical boundaries of services offered by satellites in constant movement. To address these challenges, this work presents a development of a GIS extension for ETSI MANO architecture. This plugin enhances the MANO systems by enabling dynamic scaling, which adjusts resource allocation based on satellite movement and projected position. Additionally, it facilitates seamless migration, which ensures service continuity during satellite handovers, thereby guaranteeing uninterrupted connectivity. Furthermore, an experimental testbed validates the proposed architecture and its performance in various scenarios, ranging from single satellites to highly interconnected constellations. This research demonstrates the importance of GIS in spatially informed network function virtualization for NTNs, and prove the importance of GIS in managing satellite clusters through MANO systems. The incorporation of GIS technology in this research facilitates the provision of spatially aware services on satellite clusters. This research presents crucial findings on the performance of GIS-enabled MANO systems for enhancing network planning and operational efficiency in the context of 5G and beyond, particularly in NTNs.