Coverage and Rate Analysis for Cell-Free LEO Satellite Networks

Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication is one of the enabling key technologies in next-generation (6G) networks. However, single satellite-supported downlink communication may not meet user's needs due to limited signal strength, especially in emergent scenarios. In this letter, we investigate an architecture of cell-free (CF) LEO satellite (CFLS) networks from a system-level perspective, where a user can be served by multiple satellites to improve its quality-of-service (QoS). Furthermore, we analyze the coverage and rate of a typical user in the CFLS network. Simulation and numerical results show that the CFLS network achieves a higher coverage probability than the traditional single satellite-supported network. Moreover, user's ergodic rate is maximized by selecting an appropriate number of serving satellites.