Clustering Strategy for Megaconstellation with Synergistic Energy and Size Considerations

This paper proposes an energy- and size-aware clustering (ESC) strategy for megaconstellation systems. The methodology constructs a hierarchical architecture with designated cluster heads and member satellites through role differentiation. Cluster heads serve as relay nodes, reducing the communication load on ground infrastructure by interacting with ground stations and other entities. This hierarchical approach enables efficient constellation control through interactions primarily with cluster heads. The ESC strategy begins with a cluster head election process, incorporating orphan handling management to select cluster heads, ensuring full coverage of the entire constellation. Then, a two-stage multi-objective optimization framework is used to deal with division of members to clusters and intra-cluster multi-hop connectivity configurations. This dual-phase approach optimizes energy consumption while maintaining balanced cluster sizes. Simulations on the OneWeb system validate the ESC strategy as a viable solution in that it achieves 55.9% energy consumption reduction compared to traditional discrete gradient optimization methods while maintaining more balanced cluster sizes.