How 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks Enable Ubiquitous Global Connectivity
by Rohde & Schwarz from IEEE Spectrum on (#74K80)
5G covers under 40% of landmass. This Whitepaper details how 3GPP Release 17 addresses six satellite challenges: delay, Doppler, path loss, polarization, spectrum, and architecture.
What Attendees will Learn
- Why non-terrestrial networks are now integral to the 5G roadmap - Understand how the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 incorporates satellite-based connectivity into the 5G system, targeting ubiquitous coverage across maritime, remote, and polar regions where terrestrial networks reach less than 40% of the world's landmass. Learn the distinction between New Radio non-terrestrial networks for mobile broadband and Internet of Things non-terrestrial networks for low-power machine-type communications.
- How satellite constellation design shapes coverage, capacity, and latency - Examine how orbit altitude (low earth orbit, medium earth orbit, geostationary earth orbit), beam footprint geometry, elevation angle, and inclination determine coverage area, round-trip time, and differential delay across user equipment within a single beam. Explore the trade-offs between transparent bent-pipe and regenerative onboard-processing payload architectures.
- What radio frequency challenges distinguish satellite links from terrestrial propagation - Explore the six major technical challenges: high free-space path loss, time-variant Doppler, differential delay across large beam footprints, Faraday rotation of polarization through the ionosphere, and spectrum coexistence between terrestrial and non-terrestrial bands in the S-band and L-band.
- How 5G protocols must adapt to support non-terrestrial connectivity - Learn the specific amendments to hybrid automatic repeat request operation, timing advance control (split into common and user-equipment-specific components), random access procedure timing extensions, discontinuous reception power saving adaptations, earth-fixed tracking area management, conditional handover mechanisms, and feeder link switching for service continuity in a unique propagation environment.