Integrating RIS into HAP Networks for Improved Connectivity

This paper investigates a high-altitude platform (HAP) network enhanced with reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). The arbitrary placement of HAPs and RISs is modeled using stochastic geometry, specifically as homogeneous Poisson point processes. The HAP--RIS links are assumed to follow Rician fading, while the RIS--user links experience shadowed-Rician fading. The system's coverage probability and ergodic capacity are derived analytically and validated through Monte Carlo simulations. The results highlight significant performance gains and demonstrate the influence of various system parameters and fading conditions. The proposed system has potential for enhancing connectivity and data offloading in practical scenarios.

Enhancing HAP Networks with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

This paper presents and analyzes a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-based high-altitude platform (HAP) network. Stochastic geometry is used to model the arbitrary locations of the HAPs and RISs as a homogenous Poisson point process. Considering that the links between the HAPs, RISs, and users are $\kappa$--$\mu$ faded, the coverage and ergodic capacity of the proposed system are expressed. The analytically derived performance measures are verified through Monte Carlo simulations. Significant improvements in system performance and the impact of system parameters are demonstrated in the results. Thus, the proposed system concept can improve connectivity and data offloading in smart cities and dense urban environments.

Efficient Transmission Scheme for LEO Satellite-Based NB-IoT: A Data-Driven Perspective

This study analyses the medium access control (MAC) layer aspects of a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite-based Internet of Things (IoT) network. A transmission scheme based on change detection is proposed to accommodate more users within the network and improve energy efficiency. Machine learning (ML) algorithms are also proposed to reduce the payload size by leveraging the correlation among the sensed parameters. Real-world data from an IoT testbed deployed for a smart city application is utilised to analyse the performance regarding collision probability, effective data received and average battery lifetime. The findings reveal that the traffic pattern, post-implementation of the proposed scheme, differs from the commonly assumed Poisson traffic, thus proving the effectiveness of having IoT data from actual deployment. It is demonstrated that the transmission scheme facilitates accommodating more devices while targeting a specific collision probability. Considering the link budget for a direct access NB-IoT scenario, more data is effectively offloaded to the server within the limited visibility of LEO satellites. The average battery lifetimes are also demonstrated to increase by many folds by using the proposed access schemes and ML algorithms.

Performance Analysis of LEO Satellite-Based IoT Networks in the Presence of Interference

This paper explores a star-of-star topology for an internet-of-things (IoT) network using mega low Earth orbit constellations where the IoT users broadcast their sensed information to multiple satellites simultaneously over a shared channel. The satellites use amplify-and-forward relaying to forward the received signal to the ground station (GS), which then combines them coherently using maximal ratio combining. A comprehensive outage probability (OP) analysis is performed for the presented topology. Stochastic geometry is used to model the random locations of satellites, thus making the analysis general and independent of any constellation. The satellites are assumed to be visible if their elevation angle is greater than a threshold, called a mask angle. Statistical characteristics of the range and the number of visible satellites are derived for a given mask angle. Successive interference cancellation (SIC) and capture model (CM)-based decoding schemes are analyzed at the GS to mitigate interference effects. The average OP for the CM-based scheme, and the OP of the best user for the SIC scheme are derived analytically. Simulation results are presented that corroborate the derived analytical expressions. Moreover, insights on the effect of various system parameters like mask angle, altitude, number of satellites and decoding order are also presented. The results demonstrate that the explored topology can achieve the desired OP by leveraging the benefits of multiple satellites. Thus, this topology is an attractive choice for satellite-based IoT networks as it can facilitate burst transmissions without coordination among the IoT users.