Assessing LEO Satellite Networks for National Emergency Failover

Publication
IMC ‘25
Abstract

We assess the viability of LEO satellite networks as national emergency failover for submarine cable failures. We develop a new model and simulator to estimate failover capacity and identify key factors determining satellite network capacity: the total area of the country, terminal distribution policy, spectrum allocation, and traffic engineering policies used by LEO network operators. Our analysis produces concrete policy recommendations to governments that could result in up to 1.8x increase in failover capacity without requiring additional infrastructure.