README.md

August 26, 2026 · View on GitHub

Awesome Satellite Networking 🛰️

A curated collection of papers, open-source systems, datasets, testbeds, and tools for satellite networking and non-terrestrial networks.

_{⭐ Found this collection useful? A star is always welcome!}

Papers by Topic · Papers by Venue · Projects · Tools · Datasets

At a Glance

📚
188 Papers
_{Peer-reviewed conference work}

🧭
17 Topics
_{Peer-level research themes}

🧩
16 Projects
_{Open-source systems}

🛠️
12 Tools
_{Research utilities}

🗂️
28 Datasets
_{Public research data}

Recent Additions

CommSAR: Enabling Bidirectional Communication in SAR Imaging Satellites via Shared Waveform — SIGCOMM 2026 · Physical Layer · Ground Segment
Planet-Scale IoT Connectivity via LEO Satellites — SIGCOMM 2026 · Satellite IoT · Measurement
Dissecting the StarLink: Characterizing Queuing and Flow Dynamics in the Starlink Network — SIGCOMM 2026 · Measurement · Transport
Achieving Efficient Storage and Communication via Collaboration — SIGCOMM 2026 · Space Computing · Sensing · Resource Management
Seamless Inter-Constellation Sharing via Handover-Aware Space-Ground Association — INFOCOM 2026 · Architecture · Mobility · Resource Management
PMPS: Predictive Multi-Path Scheduling for Handover-Free LEO Communications — INFOCOM 2026 · Routing · Mobility · Resource Management
SaTor: Exploring Satellite Routing in Tor to Reduce Latency — S&P 2026 · Routing · Security
KubeSpace: A Low-Latency and Stable Control Plane for LEO Satellite Container Orchestration — INFOCOM 2026 · Mobility · Resource Management · Space Computing
A Variegated Look at Direct-to-Cell Satellites in the Wild — SIGMETRICS 2026 · Direct-to-Cell · Measurement
SERENADE: A Digital Twin Emulator for LEO Satellite Networking At-Scale — SenSys 2026 · Experimental Platforms

Research Topics

The collection uses 17 peer-level topics. The grid is a navigation index rather than a hierarchy.

🏗️ Architecture _{Network models and constellation architectures}	🕸️ Topology _{Constellation and link-topology design}	🧭 Routing _{Path selection and traffic engineering}
🔄 Mobility _{Handover and mobility management}	⚙️ Resource Management _{Allocation, scheduling, and orchestration}	📡 Ground Segment _{Ground stations, gateways, and downlinks}
📱 Direct-to-Cell _{Satellite access for mobile devices}	〰️ Physical Layer _{Radio, antennas, signals, and access}	🚚 Transport _{Congestion control and reliable delivery}
📊 Measurement _{Operational networks and user performance}	🧠 Space Computing _{In-orbit computing and orchestration}	🌍 Sensing _{Remote sensing and on-orbit analytics}
🔋 Satellite IoT _{Low-power satellite IoT connectivity}	▶️ Content Delivery _{CDNs, streaming, and multimedia delivery}	🔐 Security _{Attacks, privacy, authentication, and defenses}
🛡️ Reliability _{Failures, radiation, and survivability}	🧪 Experimental Platforms _{Simulators, emulators, digital twins, and testbeds}

Papers by Topic

Papers are listed under a primary topic and may also appear in additional topics when they make a substantial cross-topic contribution. Intentional duplication is limited to clear cases.

Security

Location and Ranging

LPG: Raise Your Location Privacy Game in Direct-to-Cell LEO Satellite Networks — USENIX Security 2026 · 🏆 Distinguished Paper Award
Mind the Location Leakage in LEO Direct-to-Cell Satellite Networks — S&P 2025
LEO-Range: Physical Layer Design for Secure Ranging with Low Earth Orbiting Satellites — USENIX Security 2025
Orbital Trust and Privacy: SoK on PKI and Location Privacy Challenges in Space Networks — USENIX Security 2024
RECORD: A RECeption-Only Region Determination Attack on LEO Satellite Users — USENIX Security 2024
Don't Shoot the Messenger: Localization Prevention of Satellite Internet Users — S&P 2024

Software and Firmware

SatBleed: Security of Commoditized Communication Modules in Satellites — S&P 2026
Space RadSim: Binary-Agnostic Fault Injection to Evaluate Cosmic Radiation Impact on Exploit Mitigation Techniques in Space — S&P 2025
SoK: Space Infrastructures Vulnerabilities, Attacks and Defenses — S&P 2025
A Comprehensive Analysis of Security Vulnerabilities and Attacks in Satellite Modems — CCS 2024
Space Odyssey: An Experimental Software Security Analysis of Satellites — S&P 2023 · 🏆 Distinguished Paper Award

Network Attacks

Time-varying Bottleneck Links in LEO Satellite Networks: Identification, Exploits, and Countermeasures — NDSS 2025
StarMaze: Ring-based Attack in Satellite Internet Constellations — IWQoS 2024
Energy Drain Attack in Satellite Internet Constellations — IWQoS 2023
ICARUS: Attacking Low Earth Orbit Satellite Networks — USENIX ATC 2021

Situational Awareness

On Detecting Deception in Space Situational Awareness — Asia CCS 2021

Protocol Security

SaTor: Exploring Satellite Routing in Tor to Reduce Latency — S&P 2026
HoneySat: A Network-based Satellite Honeypot Framework — NDSS 2026
Stealthy Low Earth Orbit Satellite-to-Ground Quantum Communication — NINeS 2026
Don’t Look Up: There Are Sensitive Internal Links in the Clear on GEO Satellites — CCS 2025
Starshields for iOS: Navigating the Security Cosmos in Satellite Communication — NDSS 2025
The Dark Side of Scale: Insecurity of Direct-to-Cell Satellite Mega-Constellations — S&P 2024
Infiltrating the Sky: Data Delay and Overflow Attacks in Earth Observation Constellations — ICNP 2024
VSAsTer: Uncovering Inherent Security Issues in Current VSAT System Practices — WiSec 2024
QPEP: An Actionable Approach to Secure and Performant Broadband From Geostationary Orbit — NDSS 2021
A Tale of Sea and Sky On the Security of Maritime VSAT Communications — S&P 2020
Secrets in the Sky: On Privacy and Infrastructure Security in DVB-S Satellite Broadband — WiSec 2019
Don’t Trust Satellite Phones: A Security Analysis of Two Satphone Standards — S&P 2012

Authentication and Trust

Watch This Space: Securing Satellite Communication through Resilient Transmitter Fingerprinting — CCS 2023
V'CER: Efficient Certificate Validation in Constrained Networks — USENIX Security 2022
Orbit-based Authentication Using TDOA Signatures in Satellite Networks — WiSec 2021

Spoofing

GNSS-WASP: GNSS Wide Area SPoofing — USENIX Security 2025
Wireless Signal Injection Attacks on VSAT Satellite Modems — USENIX Security 2024
Satellite Spoofing from A to Z: On the Requirements of Satellite Downlink Overshadowing Attacks — WiSec 2023
GNSS spoofing detection via opportunistic IRIDIUM signals — WiSec 2020

Reliability

A Comprehensive Study of Satellite Network Performance During Severe or Extreme Geomagnetic Storms over 1.5 Years (May 2024 - Oct 2025) — SIGMETRICS 2026
How Resilient are They? Robustness Analysis of LEO Satellite Routing — IWQoS 2025
REMU: Memory-aware Radiation Emulation via Dual Addressing for In-orbit Deep Learning System — DAC 2025
Space RadSim: Binary-Agnostic Fault Injection to Evaluate Cosmic Radiation Impact on Exploit Mitigation Techniques in Space — S&P 2025
Sustainability or Survivability? Eliminating the Need to Choose in LEO Satellite Constellations — HotNets 2025
Your Mega-Constellations Can Be Slim: A Cost-Effective Approach for Constructing Survivable and Performant LEO Satellite Networks — INFOCOM 2024
Mars Attacks! Software Protection Against Space Radiation — HotNets 2023
Energy Drain Attack in Satellite Internet Constellations — IWQoS 2023
SOS: Isolated Health Monitoring System to Save Our Satellites — MobiSys 2021

Experimental Platforms

SERENADE: A Digital Twin Emulator for LEO Satellite Networking At-Scale — SenSys 2026
Emulating Space Computing Networks with RHONE — USENIX ATC 2025
LEOCraft: Towards Designing Performant LEO Networks — USENIX ATC 2025
StarryNet: Empowering Researchers to Evaluate Futuristic Integrated Space and Terrestrial Networks — NSDI 2023
A community-driven approach to democratize access to satellite ground stations — MobiCom 2021
Hypatia: A Simulation Framework for Low Earth Orbit Satellites — IMC 2020
StarPerf: Characterizing Network Performance for Emerging Mega-Constellations — ICNP 2020

Workshops

4th ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication 2026 (LEO-NET) — SIGCOMM 2026
3rd ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication 2025 (LEO-NET) — SIGCOMM 2025
3rd Workshop on Security of Space and Satellite Systems (SpaceSec) — NDSS 2025
2nd ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication 2024 (LEO-NET) — MobiCom 2024
2nd Workshop on Security of Space and Satellite Systems (SpaceSec) — NDSS 2024
1st Workshop on Security of Space and Satellite Systems (SpaceSec) — NDSS 2023
1st ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication 2023 (LEO-NET) — MobiCom 2023
1st ACM Workshop on Satellite Networking and Computing (SatCom) — MobiCom 2023
1st Workshop on 6G Enablers: Satellite, Qualitative and Semantic Communications — ICNP 2023

Tutorials

Integrated Satellite-Terrestrial Network (ISTN) — SIGCOMM 2021

Projects

Open-source 3GPP NTN protocol stacks

OpenAirInterface5G — An open-source 5G stack with GEO/LEO NTN configurations for transparent and regenerative satellite payloads.
srsRAN — An open-source 5G RAN stack with an NTN tutorial currently focused on GEO configurations.
Open-Source 5G NR NTN Testbed (LEO) — A reproducible LEO 5G NTN testbed built on OpenAirInterface and Open5GS that tracks propagation delay and Doppler shift across a full satellite pass, covering a 3GPP Rel-17 attach.

Protocol and networking software

libcsp — A lightweight implementation of the CubeSat Space Protocol for embedded spacecraft communication.
NASA High-rate Delay Tolerant Networking (HDTN) — A high-rate implementation of Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networking for space communication systems.

Simulators and emulators

Hypatia — A framework for generating LEO constellations and running packet-level ns-3 simulations with visualization support.
Celestial — A Firecracker-based emulator for LEO edge-computing applications with time-varying links and multi-host support.
OpenSN — An open-source library for constructing and evaluating dynamic satellite-network topologies and routing schemes.
SERENADE — A real-time packet-level emulator that carries real IP traffic while modeling dynamic satellite links, routing, and topology.
SNS-3 — An ns-3 satellite-network extension supporting LEO/GEO scenarios, channel models, traffic, and satellite protocols.
OpenSAND — A CNES satellite-network emulator for DVB-S2/RCS systems that can connect real applications and equipment.
CosmicBeats Simulator — A modular simulator for modeling satellite constellations, network links, and space-computing scenarios.
StarryNet — A container-based emulator for evaluating integrated space-terrestrial networks with dynamic LEO topologies.
StarPerf — A flow-level simulator for characterizing routing and performance in emerging mega-constellations.
6GSPACELab — A University of Luxembourg testbed for integrated terrestrial and non-terrestrial 5G/6G experimentation.

Ground stations and measurement testbeds

SatNOGS — An open-source global network of satellite ground stations with software for scheduling, receiving, and sharing observations.
LEOScope — A distributed Starlink measurement platform that lets researchers run experiments from geographically diverse terminals.

Tools

Measurement and telemetry

LEOViz — Records and visualizes serving-satellite estimates, latency, and terminal metrics for Starlink and OneWeb.
starlink-grpc-tools — A collection of scripts for querying, recording, and exporting telemetry from Starlink user terminals over gRPC.

Visualization

CesiumJS — An open-source JavaScript library for interactive 3D globes, maps, and large-scale satellite visualizations.
Starlink.sx — An interactive 3D map for exploring Starlink orbits, coverage, gateways, and network geometry.
See Starlink — Predicts visible Starlink satellite passes for a user-selected location.
Satellite Map — Displays an interactive map of Starlink and other satellite constellations.

Orbit and mission analysis

Orekit — A Java library for high-precision orbit propagation, frames, time systems, attitude, and visibility analysis.
NASA General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) — An open-source mission-design and trajectory-optimization tool for spacecraft orbit and navigation analysis.
Basilisk — A modular astrodynamics and spacecraft simulation framework supporting software- and hardware-in-the-loop workflows.
python-sgp4 — A Python implementation of Vallado's SGP4 propagator for TLE and OMM satellite element sets.
Skyfield — A Python library for high-precision astronomy and satellite position calculations, including TLE propagation.
ESA Space Debris Software — A portal for ESA space-debris environment, risk-assessment, mitigation, and re-entry analysis tools.

Datasets

Orbit data

Space-Track — The U.S. Space Force catalog portal for space-object metadata and orbital element sets.
CelesTrak — A public source of curated GP/TLE/OMM orbital data and satellite-tracking resources.

Starlink

LENS — A continuously updated multi-region Starlink and OneWeb dataset with ping, IRTT, and terminal-telemetry measurements.
WetLinks — A six-month Starlink dataset combining throughput, RTT, loss, traceroutes, and colocated weather observations.
Starlink End-User Measurement Data — Code and data for the INFOCOM 2023 end-user study of Starlink network characteristics.
A Multifaceted Look at Starlink Performance Dataset — Measurement data from the WWW 2024 study combining crowdsourced, RIPE Atlas, and controlled experiments on latency, throughput, routing, and application performance.
Starlink Measurements 01/2022–06/2022 — A six-month dataset containing ping, traceroute, HTTP, TLS, visible-satellite, and terminal-disconnection measurements.
Starlink on the Autobahn — Mobile Starlink throughput, RTT, and loss measurements from a 300-km drive in Germany, with stationary terminal and service-plan comparisons.
Filtered Crowdsourced Starlink Measurements — Approximately 23 million M-Lab and Cloudflare latency and throughput measurements enriched with satellite-visibility, geographic, and weather features.
Starlink One-Way Delay Dataset — Hardware-timestamped uplink and downlink one-way-delay measurements collected from a Starlink terminal in Sweden for LEO-NET 2025.
Global Starlink Web Cache Latency and Traceroute Dataset — Roughly two million RIPE Atlas ping and traceroute measurements from Starlink probes across five continents to popular websites.
Understanding DNS Dynamics over Starlink Dataset — Custom and RIPE Atlas DNS measurements with Parquet data, constellation-development records, and reproducible analysis notebooks.
CARL-W Starlink Dataset — A one-month measurement dataset from a testbed integrating Starlink with a private 5G network.
Starlink Latency and Downlink Throughput Dataset — Public Starlink round-trip-latency and downlink-throughput measurements.
Statistical Characterization of LEO E2E Latency Dataset — Per-packet Starlink IRTT traces containing timestamps, uplink delay, downlink delay, and RTT from multiple long-running experiments.
Website Fingerprinting over Starlink Dataset — Preprocessed Tor and Firefox website-access traces collected over Starlink and fiber links for evaluating website-fingerprinting attacks.
Starlink IPv6 and Backbone Topology Data — Data from a large-scale IPv6 study, including active user routers, points of presence, and inferred backbone connections.
NEXASPHERE 7-Day Starlink Dataset — A seven-day Athens deployment with latency, jitter, throughput, terminal telemetry, and availability measurements.
StarLoc Passive RF Dataset — Passive Starlink Ku-band IQ captures from a synchronized three-receiver array, with IMU/GNSS and TLE metadata for 81 satellites across 11 observations.
Starlink Ku-band Frames and Pilots Dataset — Decoded Starlink Ku-band downlink frames and MATLAB scripts for studying pilot sequences, recurrent symbols, and modulation mappings.
Raw Starlink and OneWeb Monitoring Data — One month of spectrum scans, Ku-band beacon monitoring, SDR captures, and corresponding daily TLE data collected in the UK.

Network measurement and telemetry data

RHONE On-Orbit Telemetry Data — Power, temperature, and runtime telemetry collected from the Tiansuan constellation for RHONE.

Signal data

IRIDIUM Broadcast Message Physical-Layer Dataset — 3.84 million IRIDIUM broadcast-message records and 7.63 billion associated IQ samples collected during two month-long measurement campaigns.
RML24 — A hardware-in-the-loop satellite TT&C signal dataset with 1,386,000 samples across 22 modulation formats and annotated SNR and symbol-rate metadata.

Open measurement and observation sources

SatNOGS Observations Database — An openly queryable global archive of ground-station observations, waterfalls, decoded telemetry, pass geometry, and satellite metadata.
RIPE Atlas — A global active-measurement platform whose public API supports extracting satellite-network ping, traceroute, DNS, and other measurements by probe and ASN.
Measurement Lab (M-Lab) — An open Internet-measurement archive that supports longitudinal extraction of Starlink throughput and latency records, including NDT data.
Cloudflare Radar — Public network-quality and speed-test insights that can be explored by ASN and geography for aggregate Starlink performance analysis.

Citation

If this collection supports your research, please cite it using the following entry (download BibTeX):

@misc{liu2026awesomeSatelliteNetworking,
  author = {Wei Liu},
  title  = {Awesome Satellite Networking},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://github.com/liuwei-network/awesome-satellite-network},
  note   = {A curated collection of papers, systems, datasets, and tools for satellite networking and non-terrestrial networks}
}