All But Regular: Revisiting the Starlink Constellation

Authors: Pietro Ronchetti, Sushovan Das, Laurent Vanbever, and Stefano Vissicchio
4th ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication (LEO-NET 2026)
Dave Täht Outstanding Paper Award
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Abstract

Prior work on LEO satellite networks focuses on regular constellations and grid-like topologies. Using existing Starlink satellite data, we uncover and systematically characterize the constellation’s irregularities at multiple granularities, including shell distribution, orbital spacing, intra-orbit satellite placement, and hardware heterogeneity. To expose the actual impact of these irregularities, we try and superimpose grid-like topologies onto them, and study the impact of doing so. Our simulations show that forcing regular topologies on irregular constellations significantly affects routing and network performance, revealing a fundamental mismatch between idealized models and real deployments. Motivated by these findings, we outline future directions, including irregularity-aware topologies, systems and perspectives.

People

Pietro Ronchetti
PhD student

BibTex

@inproceedings{ronchetti2026regular,
  author    = {Ronchetti, Pietro and Das, Sushovan and Vanbever, Laurent and , Stefano Vissicchio},
  title     = {{All But Regular: Revisiting the Starlink Constellation}},
  booktitle = {4th ACM Workshop on LEO Networking and Communication (LEO-NET 2026)},
  address   = {Denver, CO, USA},
  year      = 2026,
  month     = aug,
  doi       = {10.1145/3789240.3827597},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3789240.3827597}
}

Research Collection: 20.500.11850/802734

Slide Sources: https://gitlab.ethz.ch/projects/65691