{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,24]],"date-time":"2026-10-24T00:33:13Z","timestamp":1792801993531,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,2]],"date-time":"2025-02-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1738454400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)","award":["U21A20450"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["U21A20450"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The mega-low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation is pivotal for the future of satellite Internet and 6G networks. In the mega-LEO satellite constellation system (MLSCS), which is the spatial distribution of satellites, global users, and their services, along with the utilization of global spectrum resources, significantly impacts resource allocation and scheduling. This paper addresses the challenge of effectively allocating system resources based on service and resource distribution, particularly in hotspot areas where user demand is concentrated, to enhance resource utilization efficiency. We propose a novel three-layer management architecture designed to implement scheduling strategies and alleviate the processing burden on the terrestrial Network Control Center (NCC), while providing real-time scheduling capabilities to adapt to rapid changes in network topology, resource distribution, and service requirements. The three layers of the resource management architecture\u2014NCC, space base station (SBS), and user terminal (UT)\u2014are discussed in detail, along with the functions and responsibilities of each layer. Additionally, we explore various resource scheduling strategies, approaches, and algorithms, including spectrum cognition, interference coordination, beam scheduling, multi-satellite collaboration, and random access. Simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches and algorithms, indicating significant improvements in resource management in the MLSCS.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s25030902","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,4]],"date-time":"2025-02-04T05:13:43Z","timestamp":1738646023000},"page":"902","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":10,"title":["Hierarchical Resource Management for Mega-LEO Satellite Constellation"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"given":"Liang","family":"Gou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Communications and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dongming","family":"Bian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Communications and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yulei","family":"Nie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Integrated Circuit Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6939-1922","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gengxin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Communications and Information Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing 210003, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongwei","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Telecommunication and Navigation Satellite, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yulin","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Telecommunication and Navigation Satellite, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lei","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Telecommunication and Navigation Satellite, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1109\/MNET.2018.1800037","article-title":"Satellite-5G Integration: A Network Perspective","volume":"32","author":"Giambene","year":"2018","journal-title":"IEEE Netw."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.3847\/2041-8213\/ab8016","article-title":"The low earth orbit satellite population and impacts of the spaceX starlink constellation","volume":"892","author":"Mcdowell","year":"2020","journal-title":"Astrophys. J. Lett."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"1","article-title":"Introduction of OneWeb System and Domestic LEO Internet Satellite System","volume":"2017","author":"Zhai","year":"2017","journal-title":"Space Electron. Technol."},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"22","article-title":"Development Situation and Analysis of OneWeb System","volume":"2018","author":"Lin","year":"2018","journal-title":"Digit. Commun. World"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18522","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2020.2968594","article-title":"A Hierarchical Approach to Resource Allocation in Extensible Multi-Layer LEO-MSS","volume":"8","author":"Li","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4687","DOI":"10.1109\/TCOMM.2022.3174886","article-title":"A Multi-Aspect Expanded Hypergraph Enabled Cross-Domain Resource Management in Satellite Networks","volume":"70","author":"Hao","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Commun."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"414","DOI":"10.1109\/LCOMM.2019.2955469","article-title":"A Prediction-Based Resource Matching Scheme for Rentable LEO Satellite Communication Network","volume":"24","author":"Han","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Lett."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9582","DOI":"10.1109\/TWC.2022.3178171","article-title":"Adapting to Dynamic LEO-B5G Systems: Meta-Critic Learning Based Efficient Resource Scheduling","volume":"21","author":"Yuan","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2877","DOI":"10.1109\/TVT.2021.3059837","article-title":"Agent-Based Spectrum Management Scheme in Satellite Communication Systems","volume":"70","author":"Li","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35759","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2020.2975012","article-title":"Cooperative Resource Management for Cognitive Satellite-Aerial-Terrestrial Integrated Networks Towards IoT","volume":"8","author":"Ruan","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6536","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2021.3112617","article-title":"An Elastic Resource Allocation Algorithm Based on Dispersion Degree for Hybrid Reque in Satellite Optical Networks","volume":"9","author":"Li","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.23919\/JCC.2020.10.018","article-title":"Dynamic uplink transmission scheduling for satellite Internet of Things applications","volume":"17","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"China Commun."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1373","DOI":"10.1109\/LCOMM.2022.3160839","article-title":"Efficient Uplink Transmission in Ultra-Dense LEO Satellite Networks With Multiband Antennas","volume":"26","author":"Chen","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Lett."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8868","DOI":"10.1109\/TVT.2021.3097149","article-title":"Hybrid Beamforming, User Scheduling, and Resource Allocation for Integrated Terrestrial-Satellite Communication","volume":"70","author":"Peng","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"722","DOI":"10.23919\/JCN.2022.000031","article-title":"Downlink spectrum sharing of heterogeneous communication systems in LEO satellite networks","volume":"24","author":"Yun","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Commun. Netw."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6052","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2018.2870878","article-title":"Interbeam Interference Constrained Resource Allocation for Shared Spectrum Multibeam Satellite Communication Systems","volume":"6","author":"Jia","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7057","DOI":"10.1109\/TWC.2021.3080578","article-title":"Collaborative Multi-Resource Allocation in Terrestrial-Satellite Network Towards 6G","volume":"29","author":"Fu","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3256","DOI":"10.1109\/TVT.2020.2964659","article-title":"Integrated Resource Management for Terrestrial-Satellite Systems","volume":"29","author":"Fu","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149","DOI":"10.1109\/CC.2018.8331998","article-title":"Coordinated resource allocation for satellite-terrestrial coexistence based on radio maps","volume":"15","author":"Fu","year":"2018","journal-title":"China Commun."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"108","DOI":"10.23919\/JCC.2021.12.007","article-title":"Intelligent spectrum management based on radio map for cloud-based satellite and terrestrial spectrum shared networks","volume":"21","author":"Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"China Commun."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1087","DOI":"10.1109\/LWC.2022.3157062","article-title":"Intelligent Low Complexity Resource Allocation Method for Integrated Satellite-Terrestrial Systems","volume":"11","author":"Chan","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Wirel. Commun. Lett."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1109\/TWC.2021.3093878","article-title":"DBF-Based Fusion Control of Transmit Power and Beam Directivity for Flexible Resource Allocation in HTS Communication System Toward B5G","volume":"21","author":"Takahashi","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1190","DOI":"10.1109\/JSAC.2022.3143215","article-title":"Distributed Resource Optimization for NOMA Transmission in Beamforming SATCOM","volume":"40","author":"Zhu","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE J. Sel. Areas Commun."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5871","DOI":"10.1109\/TVT.2019.2907682","article-title":"Chenglin, Deep Q-Learning Aided Networking, Caching, and Computing Resources Allocation in Software-Defined Satellite-Terrestrial Networks","volume":"68","author":"Qiu","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wu, H.N., Yang, X.M., and Bu, Z.Y. (2022, January 19\u201322). Deep Reinforcement Learning for Computation Offloading and Resource Allocation in Satellite-Terrestrial Integrated Networks. Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE 95th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2022-Spring), Helsinki, Finland.","DOI":"10.1109\/VTC2022-Spring54318.2022.9860361"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2785","DOI":"10.1109\/LCOMM.2020.3019437","article-title":"Distributed Intelligence: A Verification for Multi-Agent DRL-Based Multibeam Satellite Resource Allocation","volume":"24","author":"Liao","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Lett."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5025","DOI":"10.1109\/JSYST.2020.2980314","article-title":"Dynamic User Association for Resilient Backhauling in Satellite\u2013Terrestrial Integrated Networks","volume":"14","author":"Dai","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Syst. J."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145124","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2943908","article-title":"Efficient and Fair Resource Allocation Scheme for Cognitive Satellite-Terrestrial Networks","volume":"7","author":"Chen","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2727","DOI":"10.1109\/TITS.2021.3128209","article-title":"Efficient Resource Allocation for Multi-Beam Satellite-Terrestrial Vehicular Networks: A Multi-Agent Actor-Critic Method With Attention Mechanism","volume":"23","author":"He","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Intell. Transp. Syst."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Li, Z., and Jiang, C.X. (2022, January 16\u201320). Distributed Satellite Resource Allocation Mechanism Based on Contract Theory. Proceedings of the 2022\u2014IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC2022), Seoul, Republic of Korea.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICC45855.2022.9838689"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115424","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2022.3217491","article-title":"Dynamic Beam Scheduling of Multibeam Low Earth Orbit Satellites Based on an Enhanced Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm","volume":"10","author":"Wei","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2046","DOI":"10.1109\/LCOMM.2019.2928288","article-title":"Fairness-Based Superframe Design and Resource Allocation for Dynamic Rate Adaptation in DVB-RCS2 Satellite Systems","volume":"23","author":"Jung","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Commun. Lett."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.23919\/JCC.2021.09.005","article-title":"Joint precoding schemes for flexible resource allocation in high throughput satellite systems based on beam hopping","volume":"18","author":"Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"China Commun."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8846","DOI":"10.1109\/TWC.2022.3170435","article-title":"Joint Optimization of Beam-Hopping Design and NOMA-Assisted Transmission for Flexible Satellite Systems","volume":"21","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gou, L., Bian, D.M., Dong, B.G., and Nie, Y.L. (2023). Improved Spread Spectrum Aloha Protocol and Beam-Hopping Approach for Return Channel in Satellite Internet of Things. Sensors, 23.","DOI":"10.3390\/s23042116"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lv, Z.Y., Jing, W.P., Zheng, Z.Y., Lu, Z.M., Liu, C.H., and Wen, X.M. (2024, January 2\u20135). Dynamic Beam Hopping and Resource Management Optimization Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning for Interference Avoidance. Proceedings of the 2024\u2014IEEE 35th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC 2024), Valencia, Spain.","DOI":"10.1109\/PIMRC59610.2024.10817255"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8271","DOI":"10.1109\/TCOMM.2021.3109947","article-title":"Distributed Resource Management Framework for IoS Against Malicious Jamming","volume":"69","author":"Han","year":"2021","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Commun."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20241","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2023.3281404","article-title":"Airborne Internet: An Ultradense LEO Networks Empowered Satellite-to-Aircraft Access and Resource Management Approach","volume":"10","author":"Ma","year":"2023","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Leyva-Mayorga, I., Gala, V., Chiariotti, F., and Popovski, P. (June, January 28). Continent-wide Efficient and Fair Downlink Resource Allocation in LEO Satellite Constellations. Proceedings of the 2023\u2014IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC 2023), Rome, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICC45041.2023.10279350"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shen, L.H., Ho, Y., Feng, K.T., Yang, L.L., Wu, S.H., and Wu, J.M. (2023, January 20\u201323). Hierarchical Multi-Agent Multi-Armed Bandit for Resource Allocation in Multi-LEO Satellite Constellation Networks. Proceedings of the 2023 IEEE 97th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2023-Spring), Florence, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/VTC2023-Spring57618.2023.10200264"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11043","DOI":"10.1109\/TWC.2024.3378293","article-title":"Dynamic Space-Ground Integrated Mobility Management Strategy for Mega LEO Satellite Constellations","volume":"23","author":"Ji","year":"2024","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19470","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2024.3367937","article-title":"Hierarchical Dynamic Resource Allocation for Computation Offloading in LEO Satellite Networks","volume":"11","author":"Gao","year":"2024","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_43","unstructured":"Fontanesi, G., Ort\u00edz, F., Lagunas, E., Baeza, V.M., V\u00e1zquez, M.\u00c1., V\u00e1squez-Peralvo, J.A., Minardi, M., Vu, H.N., Honnaiah, P.J., and Lacoste, C. (2023). Artificial Intelligence for Satellite Communication and Non-Terrestrial Networks: A Survey. arXiv."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1915","DOI":"10.1049\/cmu2.12725","article-title":"Research on Hierarchical and Sub-Area Network Control Technology of LEO Giant Constellation","volume":"18","author":"He","year":"2024","journal-title":"IET Commun."},{"key":"ref_45","first-page":"377","article-title":"Stackelberg Game-based Resource Allocation Strategy in Virtualized Wireless Sensor Network","volume":"41","author":"Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Electron. Inf. Technol."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/25\/3\/902\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T16:25:51Z","timestamp":1760027151000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/25\/3\/902"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,2]]},"references-count":45,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,2]]}},"alternative-id":["s25030902"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s25030902","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,2,2]]}}}