LEO Satellite Constellation for Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the evolutionary directions of the Internet. This paper focuses on the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation-based IoT services for their irreplaceable functions. In many cases, IoT devices are distributed in remote areas (e.g., desert, ocean, and forest) in some special applications, they are placed in some extreme topography, where are unable to have direct terrestrial network accesses and can only be covered by satellite. Comparing with the traditional geostationary earth orbit (GEO) systems, LEO satellite constellation has the advantages of low propagation delay, small propagation loss and global coverage. Furthermore, revision of existing IoT protocol are necessary to enhance the compatibility of the LEO satellite constellation-based IoT with terrestrial IoT systems. In this paper, we provide an overview of the architecture of the LEO satellite constellation-based IoT including the following topics: LEO satellite constellation structure, efficient spectrum allocation, heterogeneous networks compatibility, and access and routing protocols.