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With the technological advancement and convergence of satellite communications, the Internet, and mobile wireless networking, the STIN has been envisioned. In this article, we introduce a potential architecture of STIN that integrates the extended space network, the Internet, and mobile wireless networks to provide comprehensive services and global anytime anywhere network access. The extended space network, being the most complex component of STIN, consists of the space-backbone of several GEO satellites, the terrestrial backbone of data centers and ground access nodes, and the space access network comprised of various satellites at different orbits and other space objects. We present a number of key technical challenges associated with STIN, including physical-layer transmission technologies, network protocols, routing, resource management, security, and test-bed development.
Yao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.