The AIoT ecosystem for next-generation satellite systems

The rapid expansion of satellite mega-constellations and demand for low-latency connectivity pose significant operational challenges that traditional, static approaches cannot address. This paper asserts that the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) paradigm is the essential, transformative framework for future space communications, fundamentally integrating intelligent processing across the entire physical space and ground segment infrastructure. Moving beyond standard synthesis, this work provides a leading-edge unified AIoT taxonomy for satellite systems derived from a systematic examination of 100 recent publications. This work offers critical insights into the practical implementation and synergistic effects of AIoT across key applications in modern satellite networks, including ground station scheduling, dynamic network optimization, predictive maintenance, and physical security. The insights derived from this work demonstrate how the convergence of distributed sensing, intelligent analytics, and autonomous actuation transforms operations across space, ground, and link segments, a perspective often fragmented in the existing literature. This work highlights the unique utility of AIoT in enabling real-time detection of orbital debris and system interruptions. Furthermore, this work provides critical research frontiers that must be prioritized, addressing the multi-level optimization problem for extreme conditions, the lack of representative training datasets, and the engineering of robust, scalable security protocols against an expanding attack surface. By consolidating these applications and focusing on actionable future development paths, this paper serves as an essential strategic reference for researchers and professionals developing autonomous, resilient, and highly efficient space infrastructure.