Scope

There is rejuvenated interest in satellite communications & networking. Both the satellite and 3GPP industries aim at developing a seamlessly integrated one network. One main difference between the legacy satellite systems and the mega-constellations of the 6G era satellite system is the networking aspect with very high-speed inter-satellite links. For efficient operation, the network will have to be autonomous, intelligent, resilient, self-organizing & self-controlling to reduce the cost and risk of human intervention. Distributed decision making, fault recovery, resilience, and scalability are among the important features. These networks will rely on AI techniques at all levels: Ground operations, on-board operations, inter-satellite and satellite-to-ground links. The satellite mega-constellations in the 6G era will create unprecedented opportunities once the unprecedented challenges are addressed by the research community.

Topics of Interest

We seek original completed and unpublished work not currently under review by any other journal/ magazine/conference. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Design and analysis of satellite mega-constellations
Novel use-cases for satellite networks and integration with terrestrial networks
High altitude platform station (HAPS) systems and HAPS constellations
Integrated terrestrial-satellite networks, satellite – 5G/6G coexistence
3GPP 6G standardization with satellite communications as a native technology
Free space optical (FSO) communications for satellite networks, laser links
Satellite networks for enhanced localization, navigation and precision positioning
Mobility/handover management in satellite networks
Quantum key distribution (QKD) in satellite networks
Computation offloading through/from satellite networks
Edge computing and caching in satellite networks
Topology management and routing in satellite networks
Random access techniques and dynamic spectrum sharing in satellite networks
Multicasting techniques in satellite networks
MIMO, massive MIMO, advanced antenna architectures, and dynamic beamforming
Interference avoidance and mitigation in satellite networks
Physical layer security in satellite communications
Security, privacy and authentical in satellite networks
Testbeds for satellite networks and experimental studies
AI/ML for satellite networks
Simulation platforms for satellite networks
IoT and M2M applications in satellite networks
Advanced physical layer technologies for satellite communication