Enhancing Handover Efficiency in PatHO-LEO Satellite Networks through Integrated Channel Optimization Techniques

Abstract

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite networks have emerged as a promising solution for providing global broadband connectivity with reduced latency and extensive coverage. However, the high orbital Speed of LEO satellites causes frequent handoffs, which may adversely affect communication continuity, utilisation of resources, and the overall network performance. The efficient management of the handover in Path-Oriented Handover for LEO (PatHO-LEO) satellite networks is critical to ensure the seamless connectivity while maintaining QoS requirements. In this paper, we propose an integrated channel optimisation framework to improve the efficiency of handover by integrating adaptive channel allocation, predictive handover decision mechanisms and dynamic channel quality assessment. The proposed approach leverages real-time channel state information, satellite trajectory prediction and traffic-aware resource management to proactively detect the optimal handover opportunities and allocate communication resources efficiently. The framework anticipates link degradation and network congestion to reduce unnecessary handovers, signalling overhead and improve channel utilisation. The performance of the proposed scheme is evaluated via extensive simulations under different traffic load and mobility conditions. The results show significant improvements in handover success rate, throughput, and channel utilisation while reducing handover latency, packet loss, and end-to-end delay compared with conventional handover methods. The results show that the predictive mobility management in combination with channel-aware resource optimisation can significantly improve the reliability and efficiency of PatHO-LEO satellite networks. The proposed framework offers an efficient solution to support next generation satellite communication services such as broadband Internet access, Internet of Things (IoT) applications and real-time data transfer in highly dynamic network environments.