For decades, satellites have facilitated remote internet of things (IoT) services. However, the recent proliferation of increasingly capable sensors and a surge in the number deployed, has led to a substantial growth in the volume of data that needs to be transmitted via satellites. In response to this growing demand, free space optical communication systems have been proposed, as they allow for the use of large bandwidths of unlicensed spectrum, enabling high data rates. However, optical communications are highly vulnerable to weather-induced disruptions, thereby limiting their high potential. This paper proposes the use of high altitude platform station (HAPS) systems in conjunction with delay-tolerant networking techniques to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted to the ground from satellites when compared to the use of traditional ground station network architectures. The architectural proposal is evaluated in terms of delivery ratio and buffer occupancy, and the subsequent discussion analyzes the advantages, challenges and potential areas for future research.

翻译：数十年来，卫星为远程物联网服务提供了支持。然而，近期功能日益强大的传感器激增及其部署数量的急剧增加，导致需要通过卫星传输的数据量大幅增长。为应对这一日益增长的需求，自由空间光通信系统被提出，因其可利用大量免许可频谱带宽，实现高速数据传输。然而，光通信极易受天气因素干扰，限制了其巨大潜力。本文提出将高空平台站系统与容忍延迟网络技术相结合，与传统地面站网络架构相比，可增加从卫星传输至地面的数据量。该架构方案在传输成功率和缓冲区占用率方面进行了评估，后续讨论分析了其优势、挑战及未来研究的潜在方向。