A Comprehensive Survey on Orbital Edge Computing: Systems, Applications, and Algorithms

The number of satellites, especially those operating in low-earth orbit (LEO), is exploding in recent years. Additionally, the use of COTS hardware into those satellites enables a new paradigm of computing: orbital edge computing (OEC). OEC entails more technically advanced steps compared to single-satellite computing. This feature allows for vast design spaces with multiple parameters, rendering several novel approaches feasible. The mobility of LEO satellites in the network and limited resources of communication, computation, and storage make it challenging to design an appropriate scheduling algorithm for specific tasks in comparison to traditional ground-based edge computing. This article comprehensively surveys the significant areas of focus in orbital edge computing, which include protocol optimization, mobility management, and resource allocation. This article provides the first comprehensive survey of OEC. Previous survey papers have only concentrated on ground-based edge computing or the integration of space and ground technologies. This article presents a review of recent research from 2000 to 2023 on orbital edge computing that covers network design, computation offloading, resource allocation, performance analysis, and optimization. Moreover, having discussed several related works, both technological challenges and future directions are highlighted in the field.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures and 5 table

The Internet of Things Space Infrastructure. Current State and Development Prospects

This chapter presents an overview of possibilities for existing Satellite Communication Systems utilization to provide Internet of Things Services. It is shown that existing Satellite Communication Systems provide traffic transmission for Internet of Things Systems with Cloud Architecture. The propositions on possibility of Fog and Edge computing implementation in Satellite Communication Systems are proposed. The ways for Low-Earth Orbit and Geostationary Orbit Satellite Communication Systems modernization for Fog and Edge computing implementation for the Internet of Things Systems are presented. To increase the efficiency of IoT data processing and the reliability of Internet of Things Data Storage, it is proposed to generate an Orbital Cloud Data Storage in Geostationary Orbit, which consists of several Geostationary Orbit Satellites - Cloud Computing Data Centers. Methods for access provision to the Orbital Cloud Data Storage using Geostationary Orbit High-Throughput Satellites and satellites from the structure of Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Communication Systems are proposed. The issues of interaction between Orbital Cloud Data Storage and ground-based Cloud Data Processing and Storage Infrastructure are briefly considered. The orbital slots in Geostationary Orbit are proposed for location of Geostationary Orbit Satellites - Cloud Computing Data Centers