## 3 Results
### Path Optimization Strategies via Inter-Plane and Inter-Shell Configurations  
Figures 9 and 10 and Table 4 present the simulation results to compare the effectiveness of the path optimization in inter-plane and inter-shell configurations in avoiding solar irradiance. The scenarios involve two intercontinental routes: \"Seoul-London\" and \"LA-Paris\". To show diverse seasonal situations and evident cases, the \"Seoul-London\" scenario under spring or fall conditions (0\({}^{\circ}\) axial inclination) and the \"LA-Paris\" scenario under summer conditions (23.5\({}^{\circ}\) axial inclination) are chosen. The shortest solar-interference-free optical link is found with four optical transceiver modules positioned in the four cardinal directions: east, west, south, and north.  
The simulation results in Figure 9 show that the impact of the solar irradiance on the communication performance can be significant, compared to the case without solar irradiance, in three comparison categories: (i) the overall path distance, (ii) the number of hops, and (iii) the latency. The results also suggest that in terms of avoiding the solar irradiance, the inter-shell configuration outperforms the inter-plane one in all three categories. Notably, compared to the inter-plane one, the inter-shell approach reduces the overall path distance by 600 km in the \"Seoul-London\" scenario and 2500 km in the \"LA-Paris\" scenario.  
Table 4 provides a detailed breakdown of the link configurations for the \"Seoul-London\" scenario. The results indicate that extending the transmission distance allows for more links to be generated, leading to a higher total number of available links compared to those available in scenarios with shorter distance constraints. In addition, inter-shell configurations consistently outperform inter-plane configurations. As shown in Table 4a,b, inter-shell setups have a greater number of links than inter-plane setups. This abundance of alternative links enables inter-shell configurations to circumvent solar interference more effectively, even though the disconnection rate is higher. The inclination of the rotational axis also significantly affects link configurations, particularly in inter-plane setups. During summer, when the solar angle reaches 23.5\({}^{\circ}\), the disconnection rate is nearly twice as high as those in spring or fall. Furthermore, inter-shell configurations, with orbital inclinations distributed widely between 50\({}^{\circ}\) and 100\({}^{\circ}\), are more susceptible to solar interference during summer. This is mainly because of the sun's incident angle being more aligned to the satellites' orbital angles.  
Figure 10 visualizes the path configurations in the \"LA-Paris\" scenario for inter-shell and inter-plane configurations. In all the cases, the paths simulated in spring (Figure 10a) are shorter than those simulated in summer (Figure 10b). These simulation outcomes align with the comparisons shown in Figure 9, confirming that inter-shell configurations are more robust than inter-plane configurations against solar interference and capable of providing a short path length, a low number of hops, and low latency.