Distributionally Robust Optimization of On-Orbit Resource Scheduling for Remote Sensing in Space-Air-Ground Integrated 6G Networks

Abstract

With the rapid development of on-board computing technology, on-orbit information processing has become a new direction for reducing service response delays and improving the quality of space-based information services. Especially in space-air–ground integrated applications in 6G networks, remote sensing image processing tasks are highly important because of their critical role in applications such as environmental monitoring and public safety. However, the fluctuations in data volume due to significant scene differences, along with the limitations in individual satellite capabilities caused by size and power constraints, present new challenges for on-orbit image processing. To address these challenges, we model a data-driven on-orbit resource scheduling problem for space-air-ground integrated networks based on distributionally robust optimization, aiming to minimize the average image processing delay. We first construct an ambiguity set based on the Wasserstein distance and the historical distribution of image data, which helps transform the original upper-bound expectation problem into an explicitly expressed mixed-integer nonlinear (MINLP) problem. Furthermore, to reduce complexity and expedite the solution process, we decouple the MINLP problem into three subproblems using the block coordinate descent method and designed an iterative solving algorithm. The numerical results demonstrate that our proposed method achieves better fitting accuracy than traditional methods and reduces the average image processing delay.