NetSatBench: A Distributed LEO Constellation Emulator with an SRv6 Case Study

2026-04-30

AI Summary

Existing simulation platforms struggle to efficiently support high-fidelity, scalable evaluation of protocols and applications for large-scale low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. This work proposes a distributed simulation architecture based on declarative workflows, leveraging Linux containers to emulate satellite nodes and employing VXLAN overlay networks to model inter-satellite links. The system integrates Etcd for coordination, IS-IS for intra-constellation routing, and ideal time-varying routing to construct dynamic topologies, while decoupling physical-layer modeling from routing logic. This design enables end-to-end protocol experimentation and is particularly well-suited for validating emerging architectures such as SRv6. Experimental results demonstrate that jointly optimizing handover strategies for both user and gateway service satellites significantly enhances overall network performance.

Abstract

NetSatBench is a distributed emulation platform for evaluating communication protocols and application workloads over large-scale LEO satellite systems. Satellites, gateways, and user terminals are implemented as Linux containers distributed across a cluster of bare-metal or virtual machines, while emulated links are realized through a Layer-2 VXLAN overlay. The system state is maintained in an Etcd key-value store and updated through epoch files, which propagate link and task changes to local control agents running inside the emulated nodes. In contrast to library-oriented tools that require users to write control programs, NetSatBench adopts a higher-level declarative workflow based on JSON "scenario files" and a command-line interface. The platform decouples physical-layer and routing modeling from the emulator core through external plug-ins, while providing built-in support for IPv4 and IPv6 routing, including IS-IS and ideal time-varying routing. Rather than focusing on emulator micro-performance alone, we illustrate what NetSatBench enables through an SRv6-based LEO architecture in which control procedures manage data tunnels between users and gateways under different handover policies. This case study shows how NetSatBench can support protocol-level experimentation under time-varying LEO dynamics and highlights the importance of end-to-end handover strategies that jointly account for the satellites serving both the user and the gateway.

Problem

• LEO satellite constellation
• protocol evaluation
• handover strategy
• time-varying topology
• end-to-end communication

Innovation

• distributed emulation
• LEO satellite constellation
• SRv6
• declarative workflow
• time-varying routing