Design and Ground Test of an IPv6 Node for Space Network

The space information network (SIN) is a network system that acquires, transmits and processes space information in real time using space platforms as carriers. Due to the large spatial and temporal coverage of the SIN and the dynamic change of the network topology, the design of the network protocol is of great significance to the overall performance of the SIN. The adoption of Internet Protocol (IP) technology for the SIN, especially the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) technology, which is same as terrestrial network, will facilitate the internetworking of space network and terrestrial network. This paper first reviews the related work of space IPv6 networks at home and abroad and proposes protocol architecture for SIN based on IPv6. Then, the selection strategy of the on-board IPv6 protocol stack is described and the software design of space IPv6 node is proposed. Finally, two test scenarios are designed to test the connectivity of space IPv6 node with terrestrial IPv6 node and terrestrial IPv4 node, respectively. The test results show that the designed space IPv6 node has the ability to internetworking with terrestrial IPv6 node and terrestrial IPv4 node.