Optimizing Rural Connectivity Through Hybrid Wireless-Wireline and Satellite Network Integration

Connectivity remains a significant challenge in rural regions, where existing network infrastructures often fail to meet the growing need for connectivity. To address these limitations, hybrid networking solutions—such as hybrid wireless-wireline access networks (HWWANs) and hybrid satellite-3GPP networks (HSNs)—have emerged as promising alternatives, garnering considerable research attention. Building on these advancements, this paper introduces a novel hybrid wireless-wireline and satellite access network (HWWSAN) framework, which integrates both technologies to enhance network performance, service reliability, and user experience. The proposed HWWSAN framework strategically assigns latency-critical users and hybrid customer premises equipment (HCPE) to terrestrial base stations, while allowing latency-tolerant users to access both the base station and the satellite network. This dual-access approach not only improves system robustness but also ensures efficient resource utilization. To further optimize network performance, we introduce two schemes: a user association scheme and a resource allocation scheme. In the user association scheme, the user association problem is formulated as a combinatorial optimization problem and solved using a greedy algorithm with a fairness-throughput trade-off that efficiently allocates resources based on network conditions and service priorities. The resource allocation scheme is designed based on modeling and solving a quality of service (QoS)-constrained optimization problem that maximizes the weighted system throughput using convex optimization techniques. The proposed methodologies incorporate base station and satellite resource availability, HCPE throughput gap (TG), and diverse user QoS requirements. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the HWWSAN framework reduces call-blocking probability by up to 50%, improves user satisfaction rates beyond 90%, and nearly doubles aggregate network throughput, validating its effectiveness for enhanced rural connectivity.