Submit to Remote Sensing Review for Remote Sensing Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Satellite Missions for Earth and Planetary Exploration".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2022) | Viewed by 22679

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Alberto Gotta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Institute of Information Science and Technologies (ISTI), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 56124 Pisa, Italy
Interests: wireless networks; satellite communication; wireless communications; Internet of Things; artificial intelligence; neural networks
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Tomaso de Cola

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Institute of Communications and Navigation, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 82234 Wessling, Germany
Interests: satellite networks; telecommunication network reliability; mobile satellite communication; array signal processing; transport protocols
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The continuous growth and demand for connectivity from pervasively distributed devices requires the adoption of heterogeneous and capillary networks with ubiquitous coverage. In addition, modern Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence techniques applied to the Internet of Things lead to not only communication requirements but also pervasive computational capacity.

Non-terrestrial networks include several radio segments, i.e., GEO, MEO, LEO, and vLEO satellites, airships, high altitude platforms, and unmanned aerial vehicles, and can scale in terms of communication and computing power. The complementary relationship of terrestrial and non-terrestrial sensing, computing, and communication systems offers an invaluable resource for IoT applications and services but requires a careful analysis of challenges and problems arising from the combination of such heterogeneous systems.

This Special Issue welcomes papers in the field of multiple-access edge computing, Internet of Things, AI-as-a-Service, and ubiquitous networks dealing with new developments in theory, analysis, simulation and modeling, experimentation, demonstration, case studies, field operational tests, and deployments.

Dr. Alberto Gotta
Dr. Tomaso de Cola
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (7 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Other

18 pages, 2450 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Learning-Based Traffic Scheduling in Non-Stationary Multipath 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks

by Achilles Machumilane, Alberto Gotta, Pietro Cassará, Giuseppe Amato and Claudio Gennaro

Remote Sens. 2023, 15(7), 1842; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15071842 - 30 Mar 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2222

Abstract

In non-terrestrial networks, where low Earth orbit satellites and user equipment move relative to each other, line-of-sight tracking and adapting to channel state variations due to endpoint movements are a major challenge. Therefore, continuous line-of-sight estimation and channel impairment compensation are crucial for user equipment to access a satellite and maintain connectivity. In this paper, we propose a framework based on actor-critic reinforcement learning for traffic scheduling in non-terrestrial networks scenario where the channel state is non-stationary due to the variability of the line of sight, which depends on the current satellite elevation. We deploy the framework as an agent in a multipath routing scheme where the user equipment can access more than one satellite simultaneously to improve link reliability and throughput. We investigate how the agent schedules traffic in multiple satellite links by adopting policies that are evaluated by an actor-critic reinforcement learning approach. The agent continuously trains its model based on variations in satellite elevation angles, handovers, and relative line-of-sight probabilities. We compare the agent’s retraining time with the satellite visibility intervals to investigate the effectiveness of the agent’s learning rate. We carry out performance analysis while considering the dense urban area of Paris, where high-rise buildings significantly affect the line of sight. The simulation results show how the learning agent selects the scheduling policy when it is connected to a pair of satellites. The results also show that the retraining time of the learning agent is up to

0.1 t i m e s

the satellite visibility time at given elevations, which guarantees efficient use of satellite visibility. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 2440 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dual Threshold Cooperative Sensing Based Dynamic Spectrum Sharing Algorithm for Integrated Satellite and Terrestrial System

by Mingchuan Yang, Guanchang Xue, Botao Liu and Yupu Yang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(23), 6061; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14236061 - 29 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1864

Abstract

In this paper, cognitive technology is introduced into the integrated satellite terrestrial system to realize the dynamic spectrum sharing of the system and improve the utilization rate of spectrum resources. To overcome the effects of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and noise uncertainty in the channel, a dual-threshold cooperative sensing strategy based on energy detection is introduced. Spectrum sensing is considered as a binary hypothesis problem, but the uncertainty of noise interference in the integrated satellite terrestrial cognitive system will cause the perception to appear ambiguous. Moreover, the noise power varies with time and relative position within a certain range. In the fuzzy state, the perception technology adopts the equal-gain merging algorithm, and derives the voting optimization algorithm to improve the accuracy of decision-making. In addition, taking the minimum error probability as the optimization goal, the optimal adjustment of the adaptive double threshold is realized based on the equal-gain combining algorithm. The simulation results show that the spectrum detection accuracy under low SNR is improved, and the opportunity for terrestrial networks to share spectrum resources is increased. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 2143 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy-Efficient Controller Placement in Software-Defined Satellite-Terrestrial Integrated Network

by Linhui Wei, Chen Chang, Yu Liu and Yumei Wang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(21), 5561; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14215561 - 4 Nov 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2477

Abstract

The satellite-terrestrial integrated network (STIN), as an integration of the satellite network and terrestrial, has become a promising architecture to support global coverage and ubiquitous connection. The architecture of software-defined networking (SDN) is utilized to intelligently coordinate the global STIN, in which the placement schemes of SDN controllers, including the locations, number, and roles, would produce various performances. However, the uneven distribution of global users leads to the unbalanced energy consumption of satellite resources, which brings a heavy burden for satellites to maintain the control flows for network management. To provide green communication for international economic trade in the countries along the Belt and Road, in this paper, we focus on the energy-efficient controller placement (EECP) problem in the software-defined STIN. The satellite gateways are located in the countries along the Belt and Road, which accounts for a large number of traffic demands and a dense population. The controllers are deployed on the LEO satellites, where each LEO satellite is a candidate controller. The energy consumption for the control paths and the user data links is modeled and then formulated as the flow processing-oriented optimization problem. A modified simulated annealing placement (MSAP) algorithm is developed to solve the EECP problem, in which we use the greedy way to obtain the initial set of controllers, and then the final optimal controller placement result is obtained by the simulated annealing algorithm. Extensive simulations are conducted on the simulated Iridium satellite network topology and statistics data. Compared with other algorithms, the results show that MSAP reduces network energy consumption by 20% and average latency by 25%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

23 pages, 9450 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pico-Sat to Ground Control: Optimizing Download Link via Laser Communication

by Revital Marbel, Boaz Ben-Moshe and Tal Grinshpoun

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(15), 3514; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14153514 - 22 Jul 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4058

Abstract

Consider a constellation of over a hundred low Earth orbit satellites that aim to capture every point on Earth at least once a day. Clearly, there is a need to download from each satellite a large set of high-quality images on a daily basis. In this paper, we present a laser communication (lasercom) framework that stands as an alternative solution to existing radio-frequency means of satellite communication. By using lasercom, the suggested solution requires no frequency licensing and therefore allows such satellites to communicate with any optical ground station on Earth. Naturally, in order to allow laser communication from a low Earth orbit satellite to a ground station, accurate aiming and tracking are required. This paper presents a free-space optical communication system designed for a set of ground stations and nano-satellites. A related scheduling model is presented, for optimizing the communication between a ground station and a set of lasercom satellites. Finally, we report on SATLLA-2B, the first 300 g pico-satellite with basic free-space optics capabilities, that was launched on January 2022. We conjecture that the true potential of the presented network can be obtained by using a swarm of few hundreds of such lasercom pico-satellites, which can serve as a global communication infrastructure using existing telescope-based observatories as ground stations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 1898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Multi-Controller Deployment in SDN-Enabled 6G Space–Air–Ground Integrated Network

by Zhan Liao, Chen Chen, Ying Ju, Ci He, Jiange Jiang and Qingqi Pei

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(5), 1076; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14051076 - 22 Feb 2022

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 5067

Abstract

The space–air–ground Integrated Network (SAGIN) is considered to be a significant framework for realizing the vision of “6G intelligent connection of all things”. The birth of 6G SAGIN also brings many problems, such as ultra-dense dense networks, leading to a decrease in the efficiency of traditional flat network management, and traditional satellite networking solidified network functions, etc. Therefore, combining the 6G SAGIN network with the software-defined network (SDN) is an excellent solution. However, the satellite network topology changes dynamically and the ground user unbalanced distribution leads to the unbalanced load of the SDN controller, which further leads to the increased communication delay and throughput drop, etc. For these problems, a hierarchical multi-controller deployment strategy of an SDN-based 6G SAGIN is proposed. Firstly, the delay model of the network, the load model of the SDN controller, and a loss value as a measure of whether the network delay and controller load are optimal are defined. Then, using the distribution relationship between the SDN controller and the switch node as the solution space, and taking the loss value as the optimization goal, a multi-controller deployment strategy based on the simulated annealing algorithm is used to search for the optimal solution space. Lastly, considering the network topology changes dynamically and the SDN controller imbalance, a switch migration strategy oriented toward load balancing is proposed. We aimed to determine the controller deployment plan through the above two points, balance the controller load, and then improve the network performance. The simulation results show that the controller load is increased by about 7.71% compared to OCLDS, and the running time is increased by 17.7% compared to n-k-means. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 9993 KiB

Open AccessArticle

UAV-Assisted Privacy-Preserving Online Computation Offloading for Internet of Things

by Dawei Wei, Ning Xi, Jianfeng Ma and Lei He

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(23), 4853; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13234853 - 29 Nov 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2806

Abstract

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plays a more and more important role in Internet of Things (IoT) for remote sensing and device interconnecting. Due to the limitation of computing capacity and energy, the UAV cannot handle complex tasks. Recently, computation offloading provides a promising way for the UAV to handle complex tasks by deep reinforcement learning (DRL)-based methods. However, existing DRL-based computation offloading methods merely protect usage pattern privacy and location privacy. In this paper, we consider a new privacy issue in UAV-assisted IoT, namely computation offloading preference leakage, which lacks through study. To cope with this issue, we propose a novel privacy-preserving online computation offloading method for UAV-assisted IoT. Our method integrates the differential privacy mechanism into deep reinforcement learning (DRL), which can protect UAV’s offloading preference. We provide the formal analysis on security and utility loss of our method. Extensive real-world experiments are conducted. Results demonstrate that, compared with baseline methods, our method can learn cost-efficient computation offloading policy without preference leakage and a priori knowledge of the wireless channel model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Other

Jump to: Research

14 pages, 7173 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Tropospheric Attenuation in GeoSurf Satellite Constellations

by Emilio Matricciani, Carlo Riva and Lorenzo Luini

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(24), 5180; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13245180 - 20 Dec 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2521

Abstract

In GeoSurf satellite constellations, any transmitter/receiver, wherever it is located, is linked to a satellite with zenith paths. We have studied the tropospheric attenuation predicted for some reference sites (Canberra, Holmdel, Pasadena, Robledo, and Spino d’Adda), which also set the meridian along which we have considered sites with latitudes ranging between 60° N and 60° S. At the annual probability of 1% of an average year, in the latitude between 30° N and 30° S, there are no significant differences between GEO slant paths and GeoSurf zenith paths. On the contrary, at 0.1% and 0.01% annual probabilities, large differences are found for latitudes greater than 30° N or 30° S. For comparing the tropospheric attenuation in GeoSurf paths with that expected in LEO highly variable slant paths, we have considered, as reference, a LEO satellite constellation orbiting in circular at 817 km. GeoSurf zenith paths “gain” several dBs compared to LEO slant paths. The more static total clear-sky attenuation (water vapor, oxygen, and clouds) in both GEO and LEO slant paths shows larger values than GeoSurf zenith paths. Both for rain and clear-sky attenuations, Northern and Southern Hemispheres show significant differences. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Multiple Access Edge Computing in Non-Terrestial and Terrestrial Internet of Things Networks

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (7 papers)

Research

Other

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI