SCNE Simulator Description

The SCNE (Satellite Constellation Network Emulator) is a simulator for Non-Geostationary Satellite Orbit (NGSO) satellite mega-constellation network higher protocol layer performance analysis. The main adopted design assumptions for the SCNE can be listed as:

The SCNE is composed of three main components: the orbital simulator (STK), the network simulator (ns-3) and the SCNE orchestrator. 

AGI's STK tool is commercial software. There is a free version of STK, but the SCNE requires a full STK license with additional Professional and Com module licenses. In SCNE, the STK is used as an orbital simulator

Network Simulator 3 (ns-3) is a discrete-event network simulator, targeted primarily for research and educational use. Ns-3 is free software, licensed under the GNU GPLv2 license, and is publicly available for research, development, and commercial use. In SCNE, the ns-3 simulator is used as a network simulator:

The SCNE orchestrator is an SCNE plugin, which is used:

The SCNE ns-3 simulator has been integrated to Magister SimLab. The default STK satellite scenario is 24 hours long and consists of 288 satellites within circular quasi-polar LEO orbits, 10 gateways (GW), and 50 user terminals (UT). Each LEO satellite is configured with 4 ISL links. If one wants to modify the satellite constellation specifications or create a new constellation, it needs to be done using the STK tool.

SCNE use cases are e.g.