Integrated Satellite-Terrestrial Network Framework for Next Generation Smart Grid

Abstract

Satellite Internet as a representative of 6G offers a globally resilient service of communication, navigation, timing and remote sensing at multiple temporal and spatial scales. Facing the 6G era, the next generation smart grid (NGSG) will be constructed with the assistance of a unified space-ground network. This accounts for the unified network’s attributions of wide coverage, large base of sources and loads, and the complex environment. Hence, an integrated satellite-terrestrial network (ISTN) framework is proposed in this letter. It aims at empowering the NGSG under the massive renewable energy sources integration, which includes conditions of an intelligent urban grid, a reliable remote area grid, and a resilient grid to emergency. Heterogeneous data such as remote sensing and navigation signals are aggregated and leveraged in the proposed ISTN framework. Information entropy theory is used to coordinate the space- and ground-based networks elaborately, maximizing the utilization of network resources pointedly and efficiently. A cyber-physical platform is used based on an actual LEO satellite Internet test constellation to validate the proposed ISTN, which reveals the superiority and promising future.