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Date of publication xxxx 00, 0000, date of current version xxxx 00, 0000.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2017.Doi Number

A Shared Satellite Ground Station Using User-

Oriented Virtualization Technology
Yandu Liu1, Yudi Chen1, Yiwen Jiao1, Hong Ma1 and Tao Wu1
1
Space Engineering University, Beijing 101400, China
Corresponding author: Yudi Chen (e-mail: [email protected]).
This work was supported by the Beijing Science and technology major project of China (No. Z18110400290000).

ABSTRACT With the development of space missions, the increasing communication data volume, the
diversity of mission-specific interfaces, and the growing security needs, the costs and system complexity of
ground stations have increased. The architecture of the existing ground terminal is outdated and the
operation and maintenance are labor-intensive, so the terminal components are unable to meet the demand
of multi-satellite TT&C in the future. In this paper, a Shared Satellite Ground Station(SSGS) using user-
oriented virtualization technology is proposed for coping with complex multi-satellite TT&C in the future.
Based on a pool architecture, SSGS utilizes baseband processor virtualization and software-defined
networking to implement resource sharing and a network that fuses high-speed and low-speed data streams
with customization control. The case analysis verifies that when SSGS has a virtualization rate greater than
1, the execution rate of tasks is much larger than that of traditional ground stations. The case analysis also
verifies that the virtualization rate of current commercial equipment is no less than 1.25 through equipment
testing.

INDEX TERMS Satellite Ground Station, Baseband processor virtualization, Software-defined network,
TT&C.

I. INTRODUCTION which accommodates numerous ground stations and

Ground stations are used for receiving payload data and improves educational spacecraft communication[3]. NASA,
Spacecraft telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C). JPL and the Center for EUV Astrophysics have evaluated a
Traditional ground station networks generally belong to the commercially available ground station for telemetry
government or the military, e.g.NASA's STDN (Spaceflight reception, processing, and routing of data over a commercial,
Tracking and Data Network), the United States' AFSCN (Air secure data line[4]. SSC (Swedish Space Corporation) 's
Force Satellite Control Network) and ESA's ESTRACK. PrioraNet is a global ground station network consisting of a
Whereas with the development of civil and commercial network management center, SSC's core stations, and
aerospace, e.g. Space Imaging, Orbital Space Imaging, cooperative stations all over the world. It provides reliable
OneWeb and Planet Labs, more space launch missions and mission management, TT&C (Tracking, Telemetry and
satellites in orbit have brought considerable challenges to Command) and payload data reception for the global
ground stations, i.e. it is difficult for traditional ground satellites. KKS(Kongsberg Satellite Services)'s ground
station networks to provide flexible services for numerous station network is composed of TNOC (Trom’s network
commercial satellites. The contradiction between limited operations center) and four ground stations, which mainly
ground stations and the increasing demand has become provides services for polar-orbiting satellites. [5] proposed a
increasingly prominent. Hence, the development of modular ground station used to support nanosatellites and
commercial ground stations becomes an inevitable microsatellites. The literature adopts a flexible and layered
trend[1],[2]. method to establish the ground station network, which is
Civil and commercial ground station networks distributed suitable for multiple satellites and allows more frequency
around the world came into being. GENSO (Global bands and missions to be added.
Educational Network for Satellite Operations) is a network of Many kinds of research on the commercialization and
university and amateur ground stations managed by ESA.， flexibility of ground stations have been carried out. [6]

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proposed and verified the application of GPU-accelerated expand, upgrade and maintain. The main contributions of this
demodulation of high-speed signals within software-defined paper can be summarized as follows.
radios to satellite ground stations. [7] proposed a ground • A pool architecture for establishing SSGS is
station based on an adaptive polarization SDR platform, proposed, where SSGS is divided into six functional
which supports uplink and downlink from 1GHz to 6GHz. [8] domains: RF link, signal processing, service gateway,
used SDR to implement a ground station receiver with multi- system management, task scheduling, and
channel reception, flexible data rates, and flexible infrastructure. By comparison with traditional ground
modulation types, and can eliminate CCI (co-channel stations, the advantages of the architecture proposed
interference). [9] proposed to use modular software and in this article are summarized.
hardware to establish a full-featured ground station for • It is proposed to use baseband processor
NanoSat, so that the system can be easily modified and virtualization to isolate TT & C applications from the
upgraded to meet the needs of future missions. [10] physical platform, efficiently and securely promote
contributed to the improvement of the ground station the sharing of ground station equipment. By this
network from three aspects: low-cost ground station network method, the owner of the ground station system
scheduling, satellite downlink data synchronization, and reduces the number of equipment, increases the
ground station network data management. [11] and [12] hardware utilization rate, and reduces capital and
demonstrated that a highly distributed network of ground operating expenses.
stations offers new opportunities for the operation of • Software-defined networking technology is used to
distributed satellite systems. implement a network that fuses high-speed and low-
Moreover, to improve support for small satellites, some speed data streams. The article proposes a controller
researches on resource virtualization and resource sharing of that uses the OpenFlow protocol. This controller
ground station network have been carried out. [13] introduces replaces traditional routing equipment and
the concept of virtual satellite ground station and its potential implements network customization. control.
application with a short case, where the core of the The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. In
virtualization architecture is software-defined networking, Section II, we define the SSGS, summarize goals of SSGS，
while two basic aspects of the network were described in introduce the architecture and operational process of SSGS
[14]: Resource Management & Routing and Networking. and summarize the advantages of SSGS by contrast with
According to [15], the virtualization layer is intended to conventional ground stations. Virtualizing the baseband
facilitate sharing resources by ground stations service processor is described in detail in Section III. Section IV
providers and provide low-level network access to the shows the application of software-defined networking to
antenna system. [16] proposed a total station computing SSGS and Section V shows a case analysis. Finally, the
environment (TSCE), providing a unified general computing conclusion is drawn in Section VI.
environment for the entire ground station network. It is also
mentioned in [17],[18] that cloud computing reduces the cost II. Preliminaries
of ground station network deployment and implementation. In this section, the basic definition of Shared Satellite Ground
With the development of space missions, the increasing Station is first given. Then, we summarize the goals and
communication data volume, the diversity of mission- operational process of SSGS. Finally, the architecture of
specific interfaces, and the increasing security requirements SSGS is proposed to achieve the goals above and based on
have increased ground station costs and system complexity. the contrast to conventional ground stations, the advantages
The existing ground station equipment is out of date, and the of SSGS are summarized.
cost of maintenance, operation, maintenance, and
reconstruction is getting higher and higher. Restrictions on A. BASIC DEFINITION
hardware, software, and firmware pose significant risks to SSGS is a ground station using user-oriented virtualization
system reliability. In addition, since the architecture of the technology, which uses pool architecture and baseband
ground terminal is outdated and the operation and processor virtualization to realize resource sharing, and uses
maintenance are labor-intensive, so the terminal components software-defined networking to achieve a network that fuses
cannot meet the future demand for extended functions. high-speed and low-speed data streams.
This paper proposes a shared satellite ground station(SSGS)
B. GOALS OF SSGS
using user-oriented virtualization technology. SSGS is based
The goal of sharing is to maximize resource utilization. The
on a pool architecture and utilizes baseband processor
concept of satellite ground station virtualization is to separate
virtualization and software-defined network technologies.
the ownership of the ground station from its operation with
Hence, SSGS implements resource sharing and reducing
appropriate abstraction, where the originally fixed
overall costs and possesses the ability to cope with complex
relationship between the user and the ground station is
multi-satellite TT&C in the future, which is also easier to

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broken, and the efficiency of the ground station is improved.

Manager
Its main goals can be described as: Transmit/ Signal Data

① Realize flexible and scalable ground terminal architecture

Receive Processing Distribution
Customer

to meet all kinds of users: Satellite Ground Station Management and Control

• Adopt mature technology to realize the architecture

Customer
of the ground station Transmit/ Signal Data Data MOC
Customer
Receive Processing Formatting Distribution MOC
Customer
• Simplify the expansion process to support more MOC

spacecraft Satellite Ground Station

• Expand and improve equipment functions so that
users can execute satellite TT&C more flexibly. FIGURE 1. Basic functions of conventional ground stations

• Deploy equipment of the same type at all ground

stations Data
A/D Baseband
Store/Interactive
• Increase user data throughput and data rate
• Promote the integration of terminals into the Monitor & Control

integrated world information network

② Be capable of covering existing ground station functions A/D Baseband
Data
Store/Interactive
• Be capable of monitoring and controlling the status Monitor & Control
of spacecraft and ground equipment
• Send and receive TT&C signals Data
A/D Baseband
• Implement TT&C scheduling and management Store/Interactive

• Support the access of old versions of the monitoring Monitor & Control

system
FIGURE 2. Chimney architecture of conventional ground stations
• Provide positioning and timing services for
spacecraft
TT&C signals, while the lower link is used to receive
• Provide analysis tools for spacecraft fault diagnosis
payload data.
• Provide built-in testing and simulation functions
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that current conventional ground
③ Reduce life cycle cost
stations use a chimney architecture. Although a redundant set
• Replace the outdated system
of equipment can be deployed in a ground station, it cannot
• Make full use of off-the-shelf products
support other spacecraft with different signal systems. It
• Realize the routine maintenance of the system
means that the same user also needs to use two sets of
through redundant design and simple function
equipment to receive the spacecraft's TT&C signals and
matching
operate the spacecraft. This architecture limits the flexibility
• Maximize Operation and Maintenance Personnel
of ground stations and increases the amount of equipment
Efficiency
required for each ground terminal, as each spacecraft requires
④ Enhance the continuity of conventional ground stations
its own set of primary and redundant ground equipment.
⑤ Integrate into conventional ground stations, which can
In traditional ground station networks, multiple facilities are
gradually replace existing systems after passing offline tests
usually deployed in a ground station, and each performs
independent tasks. Each set of equipment includes channel
C. ARCHITECTURE OF SSGS
equipment, multifunctional digital baseband, time-frequency
Satellite ground stations provide tracking, telemetry, and
division system, and monitoring subsystem. There is no
control services for spacecraft, and are capable of receiving
mechanism of equipment sharing between multiple sets of
scientific data from satellites. Both conventional ground
systems, and hardware resources in-ground stations are not
stations and SSGS can implement the functions mentioned
fully utilized. The design of SSGS breaks the traditional tree
above, but their architectures differ entirely.
architecture and redefines the sharing mechanism between
As shown in Fig. 1, the basic functions of conventional
the user and the ground station resource.
ground stations can be abstracted into signal receiving and
SSGS uses a flexible pool architecture without setting special
sending, signal processing, data format conversion and
equipment for a specific spacecraft mission. The device
distribution, ground station management. The modulated
supporting TT&C consists of idle resources in the resource
signals are sent and received through the RF link, while the
pool, which will be returned to the resource pool for the next
tracking information and telemetry information are obtained
task when the current task ends. As shown in Fig. 3, SSGS
through down-conversion, filtering, demodulation, etc. At the
consists of six independent functional domains, including RF
same time, the scientific data obtained from the spacecraft
link, signal processing, service gateway, system management,
are also transmitted back to the ground through a similar
task scheduling, and Infrastructure.
process. In Fig. 1, the upper link is used to transmit Satellite

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Antennas

RF Link

ADC DAC ADC DAC ADC DAC Expandable

equipment

IP

Services Server
Server Server Server Gateway Task Scheduling

Signal Processing

IP

PC
System Management

Users

Manager

FIGURE 3. Architecture of SSGS

①RF Link the functions of the ground station can be flexibly expanded,
RF Link provides the physical connection between satellites and the equipment performance, functions, and quantity can
and SSGS and implements the digitization of the analog be flexibly defined. Therefore, the equipment of the ground
signal. The RF Link carries payload data and TT&C signals, station can be shared and reused, and the utilization rate of
which includes up/down converter and implements the the infrastructure is maximized.
conversion of IF and RF. The module includes an antenna ③ Service Gateway
system, where because of the low data rate, the small Service Gateway is the information center of SSGS. It
aperture antenna can be selected, such as flat antenna, provides a TT&C service interface for users according to
eccentric feed paraboloid antenna, reflection array antenna, registered users’ type. According to users’ demand, the
etc. The RF Link also includes a time-frequency demand list is generated in the form of the XML file and
synchronization module, which can provide accurate time submitted to the task scheduling system. After the satellite is
and frequency reference. tracked successfully and the signal is demodulated correctly,
②Signal Processing software-defined networking is used to automatically sort
Signal Processing provides services required for processing and transmit users’ data. At the same time, Service Gateway
digital signals, which is implemented as a pooled server stores available databases such as user information, usage
group. The computing resource pool can generate an records, parameter information, and data information.
inventory for configuration according to the virtual device ④System Management
generated by the task scheduling, automatically analyze task SSGS ought to be based on digital reception and distribution
parameters, and configure idle computing resources and at the front end of the system, and based on efficient network
storage resources as a baseband signal processor. interconnection and system management. System
The virtualization technology of the signal processor is the Management implements status monitoring and health
soul of SSGS. With the virtualization of physical equipment, management, which is a modular software that provides a

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remote interface and local operation interface for User SSGS terminal Manager

administrators to monitor system operation. Furthermore, the

data flow of the System Management is isolated from the Access

payload data. System Management is also capable of Computing

Request Service
monitoring network data traffic, the number of virtual service window

devices, and resource pool load in real-time, locating faulty

No
devices quickly and switching backups to a certain extent Response needs manual scheduling

automatically. Yes
Generate task list

⑤Task Scheduling Waiting to start

Whether it is a conventional TT&C device or a virtualized No

TT&C device, when a satellite transits, it is a point-to-point Apply for resources

communication process. Therefore, there is always a Yes

contradiction between the availability of ground equipment Deployment task

and the TT&C task. In order to improve the efficiency of

equipment use, many scholars have studied dynamic and Load Virtual baseband
processor configuration file
real-time resource scheduling algorithms in response to this
generate vBaseBand
problem. In traditional ground stations, the number of Proceesor

physical antennas and signal processors are fixed. However,

Monitoring
in SSGS, the signal processor is generated through Receive user data working
system status

virtualization technology, and the number is elastically

variable. Therefore, it brings great flexibility to task System Stop
scheduling, and at the same time further improves the End of task

utilization rate of the equipment. The task scheduling Recycling

resources
Notify idle
resource list
functional domain is composed of parallel computing
software of a certain size. It receives TT&C demands from FIGURE 4. Business folwchart of SSGS
the service gateway according to the task priority and
generates task schedules and virtual device generation and station terminal calculates the period that can be supported
parameter configuration lists based on information such as for TT&C according to the parameter file submitted by the
spacecraft orbits and station geography. Task scheduling user, resolves the conflict with the system log file according
always keeps the information (knowledge) of the equipment to the user priority, and finally obtains TT&C service report.
available in the resource pool updated, and is able to After the user’s confirmation, the system automatically
schedule emergency requests automatically or manually. At generates a task list, deploys tasks, loads a virtual baseband
the same time, task scheduling also reports users’ accounting processor configuration file, and generates a virtual baseband
data in order to commercialize the system. processor. Service data is sent to the user after the TT&C
⑥Infrastructure mission begins. During the execution of the system, the
Unlike other functional domains, the infrastructure does not system status information is fed back to the administrator in
belong to the application level. It contains a wide range of real-time. The system monitors the system operation status at
hardware and software to provide computing resources and any time and has the ability of manual task scheduling and
network connections for SSGS, enabling signal processing, conflict resolution. When the task ends, the system
task and resource scheduling, system management, and automatically reclaims the resources occupied by the virtual
service gateways to run smoothly. The infrastructure of the baseband processor, returns the resource pool, and reports the
SSGS adopts enterprise-level products and mature list of spare resources for system reuse. Users can preview
technologies, uses shelf-type products, uses highly versatile the data they need online or download the data files they
software and common commercial standards, and can be need from the server.
expanded to accommodate more consumers, higher
bandwidth and more types of processing systems. E. CONTRAST BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL GROUND
STATION AND SSGS
D. OPERATIONAL PROCESS OF SSGS The new architecture brings a lot of benefits to the ground
The operation scenarios of SSGS include conventional station network and users. Through the virtualization of core
operation scenarios such as satellite TTC mission, telemetry processors, the system becomes simple and flexible. The
signal receiving, on-board load data receiving and sending. commercial interface and standard infrastructure are widely
The business flowchart of SSGS is shown in Fig. 4. used, which breaks the limitation of the supplier, and reduces
A user submits a service application to the ground station, the equipment cost and operation cost. Compared with the
and the input parameters include basic elements such as conventional ground station, the advantages of SSGS are
satellite orbit parameters and signal formats. The ground shown in Table I.

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TABLE I
CONTRAST BETEEWN CONVENTIONAL GROUND STATION AND SHARED SATELLITE GROUND STATION

Aspects Conventional Ground Stations Shared Satellite Ground Station Advantages

Function Each set of equipment is only used for The service is provided by the resource System flexibility is increased and
Implementation dedicated satellites pool, and the equipment is highly shared equipment costs are reduced.
and reused
System Topology The dedicated signal processor is bound Computing resources can be flexibly The number of facilities is reduced
to physical hardware such as the antenna configured according to TT&C tasks in and the same TT&C capabilities are
in a chimney architecture a pool architecture achieved

Ground terminal The terminal equipment is developed The terminal equipment mainly consists The supplier base is larger and
equipment according to specific demand and of commercial servers, network terminal costs are lower
deployed one by one. The non-uniform infrastructure and board with fixed
system’s function and performance are functions. The system is uniformly
customized by the supplier. Software deployed.
radio technology is widely used, and
FPGA and DSP are used for baseband
processing. Private platforms limit the
possibility of upgrading.
Digitizing Analog signal and digital signal coexist RF sampling is used, and digital devices Signals are easier to record, store,
in the system are closer to RF front-end. Almost all and distribute, and digitization
the signals in the system are digital. allows for lossless distribution,
unlimited replication, and
widespread use of open standards
infrastructure.
Fault Tolerance To improve the reliability of the system, The adoption of general equipment, the A variety of fault-tolerant methods
hot backup is widely used to ensure that mature commercial interface are provided, and the system
when a single point’s error occurs, it technology, and redundant configuration availability and reliability is
will quickly switch to the backup system of the system form the multiple fault- improved. Required maintenance
tolerant mechanisms of the system personnel are reduced.
Network and The signals and data are onefold in the The software-defined network is based SSGS can be expanded in all
Transmission system and the paths are exchanged on the OpenFlow protocol, which is also aspects-software, firmware and
serially. based on IP and ports to flexibly interfaces. It also supports
distinguish control and transmission interoperation between ground
signals, user data, control instructions, stations, which further expands
and configuration parameters system functions.

System maintenance The system software and hardware are The system is distributed and loosely The system is distributed and
and upgrade tightly coupled, and the hardware adopts coupled. It adopts the x86 architecture, decoupled, adopts the x86
CPCI architecture or VME architecture uses a common operating system and architecture, uses a common
modern programming languages, and operating system and programming
uses a standardized interface for data language, and uses a standardized
interaction. interface for data interaction.
communication signals. The performance of a virtual
III. Virtualizing the baseband processor baseband processor is similar to the physical performance of
Virtualization technology abstracts various physical a dedicated device. It allows multiple virtual baseband
resources into logical resources and hides various physical processors to run on a server with little impact on
limitations. This characteristic provides the possibility for performance.
management and application in a more detailed perspective. The virtual baseband processor covers all the functions of the
The baseband processor mainly completes the TT&C signal physical baseband processor. Followings are its prominent
processing. It is the core component of the satellite ground features:
station. Different function and model number of it limits the • Support different tasks by loading different
execution of the TT&C tasks. The virtualization of the applications;
baseband processor isolates TT&C applications from the • It can quickly reconfigure different models of virtual
physical platform. For users or upper-layer applications, baseband processors on the same platform to achieve
virtual baseband processors provide the same signal different tasks by sharing a physical computing
modulation and demodulation function as physical baseband platform according to task scheduling;
processors. The (high proportion) digitization of the SSGS The hierarchical logical architecture of virtual baseband
makes the virtualization of the baseband processor available processor is clearly shown in Fig. 5. Conceptually, the
on commercial servers. In addition, the performance of virtualization of the baseband processor is similar to server
today's commercial servers is sufficient to deal with the virtualization, that is, multiple virtual machines actually run
demodulation processing of satellite TT&C signals and on one physical machine.

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FIGURE 6 ADC Card

FIGURE 5. Hierarchical logical architecture of virtual baseband processor The core function layer is the carrier of signal processing
functions, including the signal processing engine, calculation
A. RESOURCE POOL LAYER library, function library, interface specifications, etc. A
Hardware resources such as computing devices, storage virtual baseband processor with TT&C signal processing
devices, and network devices are virtualized into resource capabilities is constructed at this layer.
pools to form the basis of the virtual baseband processor Virtual machines is built on-demand through an abstraction
through the resource pool layer. The resource pool layer layer on a server cluster. The baseband processing software
provides an operation plane for resource configuration, of the corresponding mode is deployed to realize the
resource scheduling, resource recovery, and parameter dynamic loading and dynamic configuration of the local
configuration. stations’ function and to form a virtual baseband processor
All SSGS use commercial products, including analog-to- with definable functions. Real-time I/O of signals and
digital converters, high-performance computing servers, and information is guaranteed between different functional
network equipment. All devices use PCI-e interfaces and can sections through a high-speed bus. Eventually, general-
be easily inserted into rack servers with x86 architecture. purpose server resources are coupled with dedicated
Devices using the PCI-e interface generally adopt open applications. And the processing resources of the pool are
commercial standards. Fig. 6 show AD capture cards. The called as needed according to TT&C tasks.
commonly used S-band TT&C system has an operating The virtual baseband processor based on general server
bandwidth of 100 MHz. When the ADC chip is used for clusters redefines the functions and performance of baseband
sampling, it is limited by the chip's sampling frequency, processors in a software-defined manner. It provides an
operating frequency, and data accuracy. etc., it will face opportunity for transparent technology updating and
problems such as poor data accuracy and large sampling optimization of machine utilization. The core idea of SSGS’s
synchronization error between channels. Direct RF sampling sharing function is to promote the sharing of ground station
is a feasible method to solve the problems above, where the systems simply and securely. Ground station system owners
main process is to first perform band-pass filtering and high- can reduce the number of equipment, increase hardware
rate sampling on the RF signal (sampling rate 1024MSPS),
utilization, and reduce capital and operating expenses. Users
and then obtain the required sub-band IF or zero-IF signals
who need satellite TT&C services do not need to build their
through structured polyphase filtering and decimation, and
satellite ground station system, do not need any system
finally send low-rate signals to the next processor. The
TT&C expertise, do not need to learn the operation and
advantage of this scheme is that the signal is down-converted
into the required frequency band by using the aliasing effect maintenance of the TT&C system. They only need to
of bandpass sampling. Also, since the use of mixers and local temporarily rent the service to easily achieve the required
oscillator signal generators is avoided, the design of the tasks.
hardware is simplified, and different signals input can be
received by adjusting the sampling rate. C. THE APPLICATION LAYER
The virtual baseband processor operating environment is The application layer is the user's main interface, which can
created through the service layer. It shields the underlying implement different applications such as TT&C, data
hardware from the operating system, and provides the transmission, navigation, and data visualization display. The
necessary virtual resources (such as vCPU, vGPU, vMemory, virtual baseband processor is capable of realizing the filtering
vI/O) to establish a virtual baseband processor., Resources and sorting of subband signals flexibly, adapting to various
are acquired on demand through the service layer, also, communication transmission systems such as standard
management and monitoring of resource pools are TT&C, spread spectrum, continuous phase modulation,
implemented at this layer. separating and demodulating signals, and extracting the
distance and Doppler information of satellite measurement
B. THE CORE FUNCTION LAYER signals. Then the demodulated baseband data is sent to the
Service Gateway. At the same time, the function of tracking
the satellite can be implemented by the antenna system

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Antenna &
Controller High Speed Device
Network
Low Speed
Network

OpenFlow Control vProcessor

Network
Protocol
OpenFlow
vProcessor
Switch Signal
FlowTable OpenFlow
Switch
vProcessor

Controller

Mission
OpenFlow Schedule
Switch Data User
Gateway
Management
& Control

Users

FIGURE 7. Typical architecture of OpenFlow network

Manager Users

FIGURE 8. Network architecture of SSGS

automatically or by the task scheduling system according to
the data in the satellite orbit configuration file. • Switching users to the specified antenna system at
the scheduled time by changing the SDN switch flow
IV. SSGS’s Network architecture based on SDN table.
The dense digital network is one of the most prominent • After the end of the scheduled time, the flow table is
features of SSGS. The network mainly uses multiple 10 also changed to disconnect the OE from the receiving
Gigabit network segments to form a composite network, system.
which guarantees nearly 100Gbps information exchange • Record all exchange activities with timestamp
between terminal equipment. The network is mainly divided The main reasons for choosing OpenFlow is as follows:
into two parts, one is for transmitting high-speed digital • Network equipment manufacturers including HP,
TT&C signals, and the other is for transmitting low-rate IBM, CISCO, NEC, HUAWEI, etc., can already
baseband data and configuration files. provide network hardware equipment using the
Software-defined networking technology was selected to OpenFlow protocol.
implement this high-low mixed speed network. For a review • It can effectively isolate different information flows.
of software-defined network technology, you can refer The information in the SSGS is very complicated.
to[19],[20]. The basic idea is to use a centralized controller to There are high-speed digital signals from the RF
achieve custom control of the entire network. The packet front-end to the virtual baseband processor, low-
flow direction in the traditional network is artificially speed data transmitted from the virtual baseband
specified. Although the switches and routers have control processor to the user terminal, demand files
rights, they have not formed a stable data flow, only packet- submitted by users, and configuration files generated
level information is switched. In software-defined networks, by the task scheduling system. The data type, data
a unified Controller replaces the routing device and rate, and destination address of each type of
determines the transmission path of all data packets in the information are different. The OpenFlow controller
network. controls the FlowTables to force specific data flows
OpenFlow is a mature network communication protocol that to be input or output on certain physical ports of the
implements a wide range of applications in software-defined switch, and does not allow any external users to
networking technology, bringing programmable features to exchange data. The same mechanism (change data
the network[21]. It belongs to the data link layer and controls flow table) is also used to change the logical network
the forwarding plane of the switch or router in the flow table architecture by allowing certain data flows and
mode, thereby changing the path taken by the data packet. disallowing other data flows.
Typical OpenFlow network architecture is shown in Fig. 7. • Data rate. Another reason for choosing software-
The OpenFlow network is mainly composed of an OpenFlow defined networking technology rather than traditional
switch, a network virtualization layer, known as FlowVisor, firewalls is the data rate. A typical earth observation
and a controller. The controller is a program that runs on a satellite has a downlink data rate between 100Mbps
general server and connects to the SDN switch. Its main and 500Mbps. If two users receive data at the same
functions are as follows： time, the data rate is close to 1Gbps considering
• Be capable of monitoring and controlling the status system redundancy. If a user has multiple antennas
of spacecraft and ground equipment working at the same time, the overall data rate will be
• Find schedule updates higher. Traditional firewall technology can only

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User Gateway Controlled Domain

Antenna 3
Antenna 2
UserA Access 1 14 1
2 Antenna 1
Access 2 13
3
Access 3 12
4
Access 4 11 5

UserB 10 User Gateway Switch 6

7

0
8 Signal Controlled Domain

Controller 1 23 Server visor

2
23 Server 1
3
4
22 Server 2
5 21 Server 3
User Gateway Controlled Domain 6 Signal Switch 20 Server 4
7
8
0

MS Server 1 14 1
2
MS Server 2 13
Controller
3
MS Server 3 12
4
11 5

10 Mission Schedule Switch 6

7
8
0 Data Controlled Domain

Controller Database

1 23
2
23 Data Server 1
3
4
22 Data Server 2
System Management Controlled Domain 5 21 Data Server 3
6 Data Switch 20 Data Server 4
7
Local Access 14 Singal Switch 1 8
0
Data Switch 2
M&C Server 13
UG Switch 3
12
MS Switch 4
Controller
11 5

10 System Management Switch 6

7
8
0

Controller

FIGURE 9. A example of describe the function of the software-defined network of SSGS

• support 10Gbps data flow, and the cost of system be distributed to multiple ports. Also, Signal Switch has
unit time throughput is high. established a high-speed data exchange network with high
The core of the entire network is OpenFlow Controller. The isolation. Users do not need to care about or operate the data
network architecture of SSGS is shown in Fig. 8. The flow in the Signal Switch control domain.
network includes OpenFlow Switch Signal switches that The connection between the virtual baseband processor and
control high-speed data flows and OpenFlow Switch Data the data server is established through Signal Switch port 6，
switches that control low-speed data flows. The controller which runs on a physical server. It sends the processed user
ensures that the FlowTable allows only registered users to data to a data server or database. User data flow is sent from
initiate TCP/IP connections and ensure that a stable Data Switch port 2 to User Gateway Switch port 8.
connection between the antenna device and the virtual Users can log in to the SSGS through User Gateway Switch
baseband processor is established at the task time, and ensure ports 11 to 14, establishing a connection to the task
absolute isolation of task scheduling, system monitoring, user scheduling server via User Gateway Switch port 7, and
gateway configuration files, user demand list, and user data. submitting TT&C requirements.
The purpose of deploying high-speed and low-speed The task schedule and device configuration list are sent to
OpenFlow switches separately can not only isolate signals Mission Control Switch port 7 through Mission Schedule
and data but also prevent users from accessing the underlying Switch ports 1, 2, and 3 respectively to establish a task
physical hardware. And according to the principle of scheduling data flow.
symmetry, an OpenFlow switch is deployed on each side of System control and status data flows are collected to System
the network. Only when both OpenFlow switches are in an Management Switch ports 1 to 4. The system administrator
acceptable "position" can data transmission begin between can either access locally through port 14, or establish a
the device and the control system or data processing system. connection to the system monitoring server through the User
Effective isolation of multiple types of information in SSGS Gateway Switch.
is ensured. Every user can be secure without the help of an To describe the function of the software-defined network of
extra firewall. Fig. 9 shows the software-defined network SSGS, an example is given here. Assuming that user A needs
topology of the SSGS. to receive the load data of satellite B.
The connection between the antenna and the server is As shown in Fig. 9, the red line in the figure is the working
established through the Signal Switch. As shown in Fig. 9, online topology. The system selects antenna 1 to receive the
Signal Switch is connected to three antenna systems. You downlink signal of satellite B. In the Signal Switch control
can achieve an independent exchange of data flows between domain, port 1 is connected to the virtual baseband processor
antennas by configuring the FlowTable through the running in server 1. The demodulated user data is sent to data
Controller. Multiple antenna data flows can also be sent to server 4 through port 6. The user accesses the data server
one port at the same time, or the same antenna data flow can

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through Data Switch ports 2 and 20 to receive the required Cannot connect

data.
The blue dotted line shows user B's requirements of service.
The system configures the phased network topology, while
the dispatch server connecting to ServerVisor through port 3,
and sending a virtualization configuration list.
vBaseband vBaseband vBaseband vBaseband vBaseband
Processor Processor Processor Processor Processor
Baseband Baseband Baseband Baseband
Processor Processor Processor Processor

V. Case Analysis
Servers Servers Servers Servers

Traditional Satellite Ground Station SSGS

The development direction of TT&C and satellite data

N=4 N=4 M=5
transmission is to build a Space-Air-Ground integrated FIGURE 10. The connection topology in the simulation
network (SAGINs)[22],[23]. The network includes thousands
of satellites and near earth vehicles. It is unrealistic to build capabilities that a hardware device can provide. While M is
the satellite-ground connection by the way of the traditional the number of virtual baseband processors in SSGS.
ground station. The advantages of SSGS are embodied in R=1 means that a physical server can only be virtualized as a
SAGINs. The SSGS can establish stable satellite ground baseband processor; R=2 means that one server can be
connection in the most economical and efficient way, no virtualized into 2 baseband processors; R=0.5 means that a
matter how many satellites there are. The virtual baseband baseband processor needs to occupy two servers. In Fig. 10,
processor can switch among various communication the number of conventional satellite ground station (CSGS)
modulation modes. equipment N=4, the number of SSGS equipment N=4, and
In this section, we take the multi-satellite connection scenario the number of virtual baseband processors is 5 (M=5).
as an example of SAGINs to show how the SSGS can Virtualization technology is the core of SSGS. A
improve the equipment utilization and quantify the execution mathematical model can be established to measure the
efficiency. The scenario assumes the following conditions: advantages of SSGS over conventional ground stations by
 One ground station processor can only connect to one defining the virtualization rate.
satellite at a time. The ground station can track the satellite if the elevation
 This paper assumes that a set of processors can achieve angle is greater than 5°. In this article, every 1 second is set
as a simulation period, and the total simulation time is 1 day
the connection to the satellite without considering the
(86400 seconds). The number of satellites that
constraints of other physical equipment.
simultaneously appear in the coverage area of the station at
 Do not consider the system difference between different
each period is calculated. For this satellite constellation, the
satellite TT&C and communication. statistics of the proportion of simultaneous occurrences of
Due to the assumptions, in this paper, we use a simplified multiple satellites are shown in Table III.
structure shown in Fig.10 as the considered scenario. TABLE III
The Walker constellation is a distributed topology with PROPORTION OF SATELLITES VISIBLE AT THE SAME TIME
symmetry. It is the most effective constellation for global Concurrent Visibility Total Contacts(s) Percentage(%)
latitude band coverage[24]. The orbits of most low-orbit 4 4731 5.48
6 4578 5.3
satellites are similar to this configuration. Therefore, the 7 14047 16.26
Walker constellation was selected to construct a complex 8 25703 29.75
near-Earth satellite group, which was used to simulate a 9 16808 19.45
9 20215 23.4
single station to a multi-satellite TT&C scenario. The 10 318 0.37
satellite constellation parameters are described in Table II.
According to the assumptions, the circumstance that the
TABLE II
MAIN PARAMETERS OF THE WALKER CONSTELLATION number of satellites appears simultaneously in the coverage
Parameters Value area is greater than the number of baseband processors that
Constellation Satellites N 400 the ground station can provide in a certain period of time
Number of Orbital Planes P 16 means that the ground station cannot meet the satellite
Phase Factor F 2 connection requirements. Defining the ratio of the time
Orbital Height（km） 423.4846
period that can satisfy the connection demand to the total
Orbit Inclination 53.0027
Ground Station Field Angle -175°~175° time period in the constellation simulation time is the ground
Latitude and Longitude of station execution rate. Taking the number of different devices
（116.6E，40N）
Ground Station and the virtualization rate into account, the execution rates of
conventional ground stations and SSGS are simulated and
It is assumed that the number of processors in the calculated. The results are shown in Table IV.
conventional ground station and the number of SSGS The following conclusions can be drawn.
hardware servers are both N . The virtualization rate is  Since the time period when the number of simultaneous
defined as R =M / N , which represents the virtualization satellites exceeds the maximum number of equipment

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accounts for 23.77% in the conventional situations, the It can be inferred from Table V that the calculation is
maximum implementation rate is 76.23%. The task concentrated in a certain server when R<1, which is
execution rate is less than 60% when the number of equivalent to the number of virtual baseband processors less
equipment is less than 8. than the actual number of devices. That is caused by the load
 It can hardly meet the task requirements when R is less balancing strategy. The four servers are running at almost full
than 1 for SSGS. load when R> 1.25. So it can be understood that the
 The execution capacity is the same as the conventional virtualization rate the current device can support is about 1.5.
ground station when R = 1. From the parameters of the simulation platform, we can see
 The execution rate of the task will increase that the performance is not optimal. The main frequency of
exponentially with the number of equipment when R> 1. our CPU is only about 2.0 GHz. If we use a more powerful
processor, the virtualization rate (R) will be higher under the
TABLE IV same conditions. That is to say, we can improve the
STATISTICS OF STATION EXECUTION RATE (%)
performance without changing the core architecture,
Quantity SSGS SSGS
of CSGS R=0.2
SSGS SSGS
R=1.2
SSGS SSGS algorithm and program. In the future, methods such as
R=0.5 R=1 R=1.5 R=2 increasing the number of servers and (or) expanding server
Device 5 5
2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.45 performance can be taken to improve the number of satellite-
ground connections.
3 0 0 0 0 0 5.45 26.92
4 5.45 0 0 5.45 10.72 26.92 76.23 VI. Conclusions
5 10.72 0 0 10.72 26.92 56.71 100 In this paper, we have proposed a shared satellite ground
6 26.92 0 0 26.92 56.71 99.64 100 station(SSGS) using user-oriented virtualization technology.
A pool architecture for establishing SSGS is adopted, where
7 56.71 0 0 56.71 76.23 100 100
SSGS is divided into six functional domains: RF link, signal
8 76.23 0 5.45 76.23 100 100 100 processing, service gateway, system management, task
scheduling, and infrastructure. In order to isolate TT&C
applications from the physical platform, and promote the
The virtualization rate depends on the computing power of sharing of ground station equipment efficiently and securely,
the underlying hardware, network capacity, and quality of the then we introduce the baseband processor virtualization.
virtualization technology. The underlying hardware uses Moreover, software-defined networking is introduced to
general-purpose equipment, and it is difficult to derive implement a network that fuses high-speed and low-speed
accurate numerical solutions theoretically. Therefore, the data streams and and its customization control. Hence, SSGS
paper builds a virtual baseband processor operating implements resource sharing and reducing overall costs and
environment based on four commercial servers and simulates possesses the ability to cope with complex multi-satellite
the virtualization rate. The simulation takes the scenario of TT&C in the future, which is also easier to expand, upgrade
receiving data on satellite. The downlink signal is BPSK and maintain.
modulated with a code rate of 12.6Mbps. Virtual baseband In the case analysis, a multi-star connection scenario was set
processors are constructed with different virtualization rates up to quantitatively analyze the execution efficiency of SSGS.
from the resource pool composed of 4 commercial servers. The results show that for SSGS when the virtualization rate
Using the CPU usage and memory usage as indicators to R is less than 1, it can hardly meet the mission requirements;
define the system load. The simulation platform is a when R = 1, the execution capacity is the same as that of a
workstation with Intel Xeon E5-2650 CPU, 64GB Random conventional ground station; and when R>1, the execution
Access Memory (RAM). The Network bandwidth is 10 rate of the task will increase exponentially with the amount
Gigabit Double port. The ADC sampling Rate is 1024MSPS. of equipment. Then, based on four commercial servers, a
TABLE V
STATISTICS OF HARDWARE LOAD UNDER DIFFERENT VIRTUALIZATION
virtual baseband processor operating environment was
RATES established to analyze the virtualization rate that the current
commercial equipment can support. The results show that
SERVER 1 SERVER 2 SERVER 3 SERVER 4
when researching the virtualization rate, when R>1.25, the 4
R
CPU RAM CPU RAM CPU RAM CPU RAM servers are running at almost full load, so it can be confirmed
% % % % % % % % that the virtualization rate currently supported by commercial
0.25 67.3 34.7 2.3 9.1 5.7 11.3 1.7 9.7 equipment is no less than 1.25.
In future studies, we will continue to work on open
0.5 13.7 38.4 12.3 39.0 15.4 31.3 19.7 37.9
architecture, efficient information interaction networks,
1 69.7 41.2 64.7 44.2 58.1 39.7 55.7 40.5 parallelization of TT&C algorithms, and visualization of
1.25 76.1 56.8 66.7 51.1 55.9 50.3 61.0 57.2
scientific data to promote the improvement of related
technologies for SSGS. We also use AI technology to
1.5 88.3 60.8 91.0 62.5 88.9 70.4 92.7 69.9 optimize SDN gateway and controller[25]. It is foreseeable
2 100.0 78.9 99.9 80.9 100 91.2 100 90.8
that in the near future, the effective combination of SSGS

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with 5G, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence will [25] Liu, Jiajia, et al. "Joint placement of controllers and gateways in
SDN-enabled 5G-satellite integrated network." IEEE Journal on
give full play to the advantages of spatial information.
Selected Areas in Communications 36.2 (2018): 221-232.

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