Queueing Theory Approach for an IoST-Based Space Debris Tracking Network System and its Performance Evaluation

As humanity evolves, space exploration is inevitable. There are several limitations for space exploration, notably space debris has also caused the growth of a new challenge for space exploration efforts. Functional satellites and space stations are endangered by collisions with space debris, it shortens their service life and is a threat to future missions. In this paper, a novel satellite network model is presented. The model works via a fleet of low Earth orbit femto-satellites that can detect space debris and they transmit that information back to a larger nanosatellite as the central unit for processing, in both time and data. The nanosatellite would then prepare and transmit the data to ground stations for evaluation and further action, or the nano satellite transmit the information to the nearest satellite, so that the satellite would transfer the data to the ground station forming an IoST (Internet of Space Things). This network is constructed and evaluated using queueing principles presumably open Jackson queueing system, through which the network's response time, utilization of nodes etc. are obtained. This article shows how IoST -based satellite networks can help cope with the space debris problem. This capability can help space operators better track and monitor an increasingly crowded Earth's orbit debris, leading to sustained space exploration.