From Connectivity to Advanced Internet Services: A Comprehensive Review of Small Satellites Communications and Networks

Recently the availability of innovative and affordable COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) technological solutions and the ever improving results of microelectronics and microsystems technologies have enabled the design of ever smaller yet ever more powerful satellites. The emergence of very capable small satellites heralds an era of new opportunities in the commercial space market. Initially applied only to scientific missions, earth observation and remote sensing, small satellites are now being deployed to support telecommunications services. This review paper examines the operational features of small satellites that contribute to their success. An overview of recent advances and development trends in the field of small satellites is provided, with a special focus on telecommunication aspects such as the use of higher frequency bands, optical communications, new protocols, and advanced architectures

Multi-Operator Spectrum Sharing for Energy Efficient Heterogeneous Cellular Networks

Next generation cellular networks will be characterized by a very high density of heterogeneous base stations with strong consequences on operational expenditures and energy costs. In this paper a multiobjective optimization framework is proposed which is aimed at minimizing the power consumption of heterogeneous networks owned by rival mobile network operators: in particular, resource sharing is shown to guarantee the provided quality of service (QoS) and to achieve remarkable energy savings