Service‐Effective Frontiers for Distributed Quantum Sensing Over Time‐Varying LEO Optical Networks

ABSTRACT Distributed quantum sensing over an intermittent low‐Earth‐orbit network cannot be assessed from Fisher‐information ratios conditioned on successful service alone. This paper formulates a service‐effective frontier over time‐varying optical intersatellite‐link graphs. For each sensing‐group and orbital‐window sample, the method accumulates matched quantum and classical Fisher information, assigns zero to samples with no network service, averages at the sensing‐group level, and requires the lower endpoint of a 95% group bootstrap interval to exceed unity. The study uses propagated orbital‐element slices for Starlink, Iridium NEXT, and Kuiper, matched cap‐4 and cap‐1 route controls, an aggregate optical‐loss stress test, and a 20‐window temporal sweep. None of the 15 baseline‐direct and lower‐budget memory rows clears the strict gate, and none of the eight primary high‐budget rows clears. Two of eight second‐window high‐budget rows clear only at zero added loss under the analytical surrogate. The best lower‐endpoint optical headroom is 1.078 dB; no row clears at 3‐dB added loss. Across 80 path‐scheduler‐window summaries, no row clears, although cap‐4 routing improves the matched lower‐endpoint margin in 37 of 40 comparisons. The result is a reproducible preprotocol screening frontier that quantifies the separation between serviced‐window metrology and satellite‐network service. For satellite‐network engineering, the frontier converts task‐level quantum advantage into an outage‐aware service criterion and identifies which designs warrant higher‐fidelity protocol and terminal simulation.