Handover Scheme in LEO Satellite Networks Based on QoE for Streaming Media Services

Area of Science:

• Satellite Communications
• Multimedia Services
• Quality of Experience

Background:

• Satellite communications are evolving from voice/low-speed data to high-speed multimedia services.
• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites offer lower latency and transmission loss compared to Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites, crucial for future high-bandwidth services.
• On-demand streaming is a key multimedia service, but LEO satellites face handover and access challenges due to their speed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simulation system for evaluating streaming services in LEO satellite environments.
• To propose and evaluate access and handover schemes for streaming services at the Quality of Experience (QoE) level.
• To address the limitations of existing studies that focus on Quality of Service (QoS) rather than QoE for multimedia in satellite networks.

Main Methods:

• Development of a dedicated simulation system to model user states like initial buffering, rebuffering, and idle time for on-demand streaming.
• Design and implementation of novel access and handover schemes specifically tailored for streaming service QoE in LEO satellite contexts.
• Evaluation of the proposed schemes using the developed simulation system to assess their performance.

Main Results:

• The simulation system effectively simulates user interactions and records buffering events in on-demand streaming services.
• The proposed QoE-based access and handover schemes demonstrate strong performance within the resource-constrained LEO satellite environment.
• The study validates the feasibility of enhancing streaming service QoE in LEO satellite networks.

Conclusions:

• The developed simulation system is a valuable tool for analyzing streaming service performance in LEO satellite networks.
• The proposed QoE-centric access and handover schemes offer a viable solution for improving user experience for multimedia services on LEO satellites.
• This research contributes to the advancement of satellite communication systems capable of supporting demanding multimedia applications.