Project Title

Collaborative Research: Research Infrastructure: CCRI: New: Distributed Space and Terrestrial Networking Infrastructure for Multiconstellation Coexistence

Summary

Event Number:
X-279-M
NSF / CNS 2235139

NSF Contact:
Dr. Deepankar Medhi

ASC POC/Implementer:
Marissa Goerke / Carrie Piesen

Principal Investigator(s)

Mr. Joshua Smith
sjosh03@vt.edu
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia

Project Web Site:
https://leoscope.surrey.ac.uk/, https://github.com/SpaceNetTestbed-public

Location

Supporting Stations: McMurdo Station
Research Locations: McMurdo Station

Description

Internet infrastructure is currently undergoing a transformation driven by projects to provide global wireless internet to every individual and internet-connected device on Earth, leveraging megaconstellations of small satellites deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO). Companies such as Starlink, OneWeb, and Amazon Kuiper are at the forefront of this work, seeking to deliver low-latency, high-bandwidth broadband services worldwide. These developments have created a need to conduct real-world experiments on deployed LEO networks to confirm performance parameters and potential bottlenecks, develop innovative LEO-specific solutions, and enhance the sophistication, data-driven nature of simulators and emulators used in the research community.

Virginia Tech (VT) and the University of Surrey (UoS) are collaborating with global research institutions and industries to build LEOScope, a global LEO satellite network testbed to serve as the go-to platform for conducting customized network and application experiments over LEO networks. The primary objective is to collect LEOScope data from a stand-alone Starlink terminal based at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This network requires Starlink to employ intersatellite links (ISLs) to route data from Antarctica to the internet access point in Sydney, Australia, which is only a subset of the constellation supports. This study will yield invaluable insights into how Starlink and satellite links in general perform under harsh polar weather conditions.

Field Season Overview

During the 2024-25 season, the team shipped measurement computers, received "smart hands" support from the McMurdo team, and set up service with the Starlink terminal. Since December 2024, the team has been getting daily measurements of internet service to compare with the modeling and simulation work for their National Science Foundation CCRI project. Their data pipelines are operational for collecting ISL hop data and relevant satellite two-line element sets (TLEs) in the McMurdo area. Data products have included latency heat maps on azimuth and elevation degree, telemetry throughput analysis at McMurdo (uplink and downlink), a time series of all telemetry data points, data on obstruction reports, and correlations between telemetry parameters, among others. During 2025-26, the team aims to maintain the current setup to continue capturing data. This may involve minimal "smart hands" technical support. The team also hopes to incorporate local weather data into its analysis.