SatViz: Satellite Visualization

SatViz is a Cesium-based visualization pipeline to generate interactive satellite network visualizations. It makes use of the online Cesium API by generating CesiumJS code. The API calls require its user to obtain a Cesium access token (via https://cesium.com/).

Getting started

1. Obtain a Cesium access token at https://cesium.com/

2. Edit static_html/top.html, and insert your Cesium access token at line 10:

   Cesium.Ion.defaultAccessToken = '<CESIUM_ACCESS_TOKEN>';

3. Now you are able to make use of the scripts in scripts/

Script description

1. visualize_constellation.py: Generates visualizations for entire constellation (multiple shells).

2. visualize_horizon_over_time.py: Finds satellite positions (azimuth, altitude) over time for a static observer and plots them relative to the observer.

3. visualize_path.py: Visualizes paths between pairs of endpoints at specific time instances.

4. visualize_path_no_isl.py: Visualizes paths between pairs of endpoints when no inter-satellite connectivity exists.

5. visualize_path_wise_utilization.py: Visualizes link utilization for specific end-end paths at a specific time instance.

6. visualize_utilization.py: Visualizes link utilization for all end-end paths at a specific time instance.

Visualizations in the paper

1. Fig. 11: Constellation trajectories: Use script visualize_constellation.py to generate constellations. To generate Starlink, Kuiper, or Telesat, one should uncomment the corresponding parameter block in the script, and comment out the other parameter blocks. The default is Starlink 5-shell.

2. Fig. 12: Ground observer's view: Use script visualize_horizon_over_time.py. To change observer location, change the LOCATION coordinates. In order to visualize for X seconds at a granularity of Y seconds, set VIZ_TIME = X and VIZ_GRAN = Y. The default values are: LOCATION = (59.9311, 30.3609) corresponding to St. Petersburg, X = 170, and Y = 5.

3. Fig. 13: Shortest path changes over time: Use script visualize_path.py. Change the values of GEN_TIME and path_file for various visualization generation times and city pairs respectively. The default values generate Fig. 13 (left). The same script can be used to generate Fig. 16(a) and 17(a).

4. Fig. 14: Congestion shifts over time: Use script visualize_path_wise_utilization.py. Change the values of GEN_TIME, path_file, and IN_UTIL_FILE for specifying visualization time, end-to-end path, and utilization. The default values generate Fig. 14 (top).

5. Fig. 15: Constellation-wide utilization: Use script visualize_utilization.py. Change the values of GEN_TIME and IN_UTIL_FILE for specifying visualization generation time and utilization. The default values generate Fig. 15.

6. Fig. 16(b) and 17(b): Use script visualize_path_no_isl.py to visualize paths when constellation does not have inter-satellite connectivity. Change the values of GEN_TIME and path_file for various visualization generation times and city pairs respectively. The default values generate Fig 17(b).