Statistically Robust Resource Block Allocation for Satellite Communications

It is critical to dimension (accurately estimate capacity of) a satellite system prior to deployment, as it is very expensive to reconfigure launched satellite systems that fail to meet demand or that waste capacity. The fundamental requirement is a dimensioning rule for resource blocks (RBs) given a satellite footprint and a target overload probability (target Quality-of-Service). The rule must be robust to the spatial covariance structure of signal attenuation, which is generally unknown both at the time of pre-deployment dimensioning and afterwards. Existing approaches address parts of this problem, but there does not yet exist a footprint-level RB dimensioning rule for the satellite context. We develop such a rule: starting with a Gaussian attenuation field that induces a covariance structure inspired by classical work on spatial covariance of attenuation, we sample users at random along with their field-based attenuation values, and estimate aggregate RB demand for a target overload probability. We do this in two complementary ways: a Monte Carlo route that gives a simulation-derived RB budget for a given target overload probability, and a concentration route that gives a conservative analytic upper bound on the target overload probability for a given RB budget (such as the one obtained through simulation). Taken together, these complementary approaches give a principled way to dimension RBs for a satellite footprint under spatially correlated attenuation.