Researchers at Sejong Univ. offer more efficient blueprint for satellite networks

Lee Soung-sub / Sejong University

Researchers at Sejong University have developed a new satellite deployment model that could significantly reduce the complexity of managing large-scale satellite networks like Starlink while maintaining broad global coverage.

The Repeating Ground Track-Walker (RGT-Walker) improves on the decades-old Walker method used by systems such as GPS.

Led by Lee Soung-sub at the university’s Aerospace Industry Research Institute, the team’s approach enables satellites to follow precise, repeating paths relative to the Earth’s surface, simplifying ground-to-satellite communications and improving the efficiency of large-scale satellite networks.

The model is aimed at solving the growing inefficiencies of satellite constellations that now number in the thousands.

The team said the RGT-Walker model retains the strengths of the traditional framework but uses a more precise mathematical structure to streamline calculations. It also improves key metrics, including revisit cycles and communication and observation coverage.

The model is designed to work seamlessly with AI, enabling applications such as collision risk prediction, orbit optimization and mission-specific constellation design.

Articles by the research team have been published in five international journals ranked within the top 10 percent of the field.

The team is taking part in an interagency nanosatellite project and plans to apply the model to a Korean low Earth orbit network to achieve greater efficiency with fewer satellites.