The design of a space-based information network backbone to provide high-speed space-to-space communications for space-based assets and shared on-orbit processing resources is being considered in this paper. The architecture requires a design of the physical network to satisfy a collection of traffic needs defining communications on that physical network. The communications architecture for the space-based information network is intended to satisfy a spectrum of mission requirements (e.g., high data rates, high connectivity, and low latency) at a reasonable cost. In order to achieve a cost-effective design for a space network architecture, the design process consists of defining traffic models, modeling the communications cost, defining the intersatellite backbone constellation and its routing and switching mechanisms, and studying the costs of deploying the network to meet those traffic demands.
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