VNF Placement and User-Satellite Matching Algorithm in Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Networks

Low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites have garnered attention as an alternative to overcome the limitations of terrestrial networks in terms of coverage. However, the inherent physical characteristics of LEO satellites, along with their non-replaceable hardware and limited computational capabilities, pose challenges in fully satisfying the diverse requirements of users within their coverage. To address these issues, this paper proposes a user-satellite matching algorithm that maximizes sum rate by leveraging greedy and ant colony optimization algorithms. The proposed algorithm models and solves the optimization problem to ensure that users in the LEO network achieve the minimum signal quality constraint while not exceeding the capacity of the satellites, all while maximizing sum rate. Additionally, a simulation study is conducted to compare the performance of the proposed algorithm against benchmark schemes.