Latency Simulation
Model end-to-end latency for orbital compute deployments, including propagation delay, ground station handovers, and inter-satellite links.
Overview
Latency in orbital systems depends on:
- Propagation delay — Speed of light distance
- Ground station availability — Coverage and handover
- Inter-satellite links (ISL) — Routing through constellation
- Processing delay — On-board and ground processing
Quick Start
from rotastellar import RotaStellar
client = RotaStellar(api_key="rs_...")
latency = client.planning.latency(
orbit="LEO-550",
ground_stations=["us-west", "us-east", "europe", "asia"],
include_isl=True
)
print(f"P50 latency: {latency.p50_ms}ms")
print(f"P95 latency: {latency.p95_ms}ms")
print(f"P99 latency: {latency.p99_ms}ms")
print(f"Coverage: {latency.coverage_percent}%")
Parameters
Orbit specification (e.g., LEO-550, MEO-8000, GEO)
List of ground station regions:
us-west, us-east, us-centraleurope, europe-northasia, asia-southaustraliasouth-america
Include inter-satellite link routing
Number of satellites (affects ISL routing options)
Specific user location for point-to-point latency:{"lat": 37.7749, "lon": -122.4194}
Response
{
"p50_ms": 25,
"p95_ms": 48,
"p99_ms": 72,
"min_ms": 12,
"max_ms": 145,
"coverage_percent": 98.5,
"breakdown": {
"propagation_ms": 8,
"processing_ms": 5,
"handover_ms": 12,
"isl_hops_avg": 1.3
},
"ground_station_stats": [
{
"station": "us-west",
"contact_percent": 35,
"avg_elevation_deg": 42
},
{
"station": "europe",
"contact_percent": 28,
"avg_elevation_deg": 38
}
],
"gaps": [
{
"start_min": 23,
"duration_min": 4,
"region": "pacific"
}
]
}
Latency by Orbit Type
| Orbit | Altitude | One-way Propagation | RTT (typical) |
|---|
| LEO | 550 km | 1.8 ms | 20-50 ms |
| MEO | 8,000 km | 27 ms | 80-150 ms |
| GEO | 35,786 km | 120 ms | 480-600 ms |
Latency Optimization
With Inter-Satellite Links
ISLs can reduce latency by routing traffic through space instead of bouncing to ground:
# Without ISL - must wait for ground station contact
latency_no_isl = client.planning.latency(
orbit="LEO-550",
ground_stations=["us-west"],
include_isl=False
)
# With ISL - can route through constellation
latency_with_isl = client.planning.latency(
orbit="LEO-550",
ground_stations=["us-west"],
include_isl=True,
constellation_size=100
)
print(f"Without ISL: P99 = {latency_no_isl.p99_ms}ms")
print(f"With ISL: P99 = {latency_with_isl.p99_ms}ms")
Geographic Coverage Analysis
Analyze latency from specific user locations:
# Latency from San Francisco to orbital compute
latency = client.planning.latency(
orbit="LEO-550",
ground_stations=["us-west", "us-east"],
user_location={"lat": 37.7749, "lon": -122.4194}
)
print(f"SF to orbit P50: {latency.p50_ms}ms")
Coverage Gaps
LEO satellites don’t provide continuous coverage. The API identifies gaps:
latency = client.planning.latency(
orbit="LEO-550",
ground_stations=["us-west"]
)
for gap in latency.gaps:
print(f"Gap at {gap.start_min}min, duration {gap.duration_min}min")
# Add more ground stations
latency = client.planning.latency(
orbit="LEO-550",
ground_stations=["us-west", "us-east", "europe", "asia"],
include_isl=True
)
print(f"Coverage: {latency.coverage_percent}%") # ~99%+
Next Steps
