Contact-Limited Throughput of a Buoyless Acoustic-to-LEO Gateway With Anticipatory Preparation

RESUMO

A buoyless acoustic-to-LEO gateway with predictable contacts is analyzed. Advanceable cross-medium preparation competes with acoustic collection, while residual RF acquisition consumes contact time. Exact fluid and packet service, a fluid-optimal fixed preparation lead, tandem-queue stability, and one-contact reliability are derived. An explicit service-bias identity shows why treating acquisition as advanceable can select an insufficient lead. For lognormal preparation, conditions are characterized under which variability improves mean service while degrading reliability. Monte Carlo and packet-queue simulations corroborate the analysis with synthetic parameters; in a diagnostic case, accounting for residual RF acquisition raises the actual sustainable rate from 8.776 to 9.079 kbit/s.