Loon SDN: Applicability to NASA's Next-Generation Space Communications Architecture

The Loon SDN is a large-scale implementation of a Temporospatial SDN and a cloud service for the interoperation and coordination of aerospace networks. The system schedules the physical wireless topology and the routing of packets across the terrestrial, air, and space segments of participating aerospace networks based on the propagated motion of their platforms and high-fidelity modeling of the relationships, constraints, and accessibility of wireless links between them. The Loon SDN is designed to optimize the operational control of aerospace networks; provide network operators with greater flexibility, situational awareness, and control; facilitate interoperability between networks; and to coordinate interference avoidance. This paper describes the Loon SDN and highlights its applicability to other directional, steerable, multi-hop aerospace networks such as non-geostationary satellite constellations and NASA's next-generation space communication architecture.