Article Satellite and 5G
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Satellites and 5G by Bernardo Schneiderman atellite communication will play a significant role Another goal of 5G is to support the expansion of devices in 5G and beyond as a complementary solution for comprising the Internet of Things (IoT)more devices will be Subiquitous coverage, broadcast/multicast provi- able to transmit data without causing performance issues. sion, aeronautical & maritime communications, emer- gency/disaster recovery, and remote rural area coverage. Driverless cars and autonomous vehicles are a related technological category that stand to benefit from 5G, as There are several use cases where standard terrestrial the demand for an interconnected transportation system coverage is either not present or possible, making satel- rises. Maintaining fast software downloads such as GPS lite systems uniquely mapping routes will positioned to provide be critical for a sys- a solution to bridge tem of connected cars. this gap. By 2020- 2025 there will be DriveNSR’s re- more than 100 High port entitled “5G via Throughput Satel- satellite: Impacts, De- lite (HTS) systems mand and Revenue using Geostation- potential to 2029,” ary (GEO) orbits forecasts deep 5G im- but also mega-con- pact in the satellite stellations of Low ecosystem with close Earth Orbit (LEO) to 10 million active satellites, deliver- units by 2029. Beyond ing Terabit per sec- Image courtesy of ESA the obvious use cas- ond (Tbps) of capacity across the world. es, like Cellular Back- haul and Trunking, a wide spectrum of applications New cost-effective system architectures as Starlink will experience accelerated demand from 5G, includ- (SpaceX), LightSpeed (Telesat), Oneweb, O3B (SES) ing IoT, Private 5G for Corporate Networks, Mo- systems should be considered as a major impact in the bility or even more conservative users like Gov/Mil. 5G infrastructure. Beside these ones during the 1Q21 Lockheed Martin’s space division announced a strategic “While 5G use cases generate a lot of hype, one interest agreement with satellite start-up Omnispace “to must not underestimate the transformative power of explore jointly developing 5G capability from space.” 5G in how satellite networks are designed,” states Luc Palerm, NSR Senior Analyst and report author. “Incor- 5G wireless technology promises to deliver per- porating and standardizing technologies like SDN/NFV formance upgrades across the entire telecommuni- or Cloud, 5G Network Management System will be at cations industry. The purpose of the 5G network the core of how future satellite networks are built, of- is to deliver faster speed and sustain a highly con- fering the scale and flexibility to optimally operate fu- centrated number of devices. This new infrastruc- ture VHTS, constellations and software defined sat- ture will transform the entire telecom industry. ellites under standardized service orchestration.” The current 5G implementation process is on- going, but in its early stages. Major mobile carri- ers already are rolling out the 5G network, although Bernardo Schneiderman is the Principal there will be a gradual transition from the 4G LTE. of Telematics Business Consultants. He With the early stages of implementation of 5G be- can be reached at:info@tbc-telematics. ginning in 2019 and 2020, there will be several op- com portunities for transformation over the next decade. 14 July-August 2021 To shed light on the market for 5G services via satellite, Satellite Executive Briefing (SEB) invited major companies to participate in a virtual roundtable. We received feedback from following executives: Richard Swardh, SVP, Premium Enterprise & Mobile Operators-Comtech EF Data; Bhanu Durvasala, VP International Division-Hughes Network Systems; Jaume Sanpera Izoard, CEO-Sateliot;Semir Hassanaly, Head of Cellular Backhaul and Trunking-ST Engineering iDirect; Manik Vinnakota, Director, Commercial and Product Development-Telesat; and Kyle Griffin, VP for space advanced program development, Lockheed Martin. Follows are excerpts of the discussion: Satellite Executive Briefing the ability to support 16,000 si- tion of satellite into 5G networks, (SEB): Please provide a summa- multaneous TCP sessions per ter- we have been involved with many ry of products or services that you minal. The JUPITER System cur- initiatives and testbeds to prepare currently offer or are planning to rently supports what we believe for the future. provide for the 5G market. is the largest Layer 2 implemen- Our 5G-enabled Intelligent tation in the world – in Indonesia. Gateway (iGW) satellite ground Comtech EF Data: Comtech EF The Hughes integrated 4G/LTE infrastructure helped enable the Data is a leading provider of in- acceleration with NSA 5G imple- successful integration of a com- novative and optimized satellite mentations enables operators to mercially available 5G core net- communications solutions, and a enhance the user experience while work into a live satellite network subsidiary of Comtech Telecom- also conserving bandwidth and is – the aim of the SaT5G project. munications Corp. We provide in use in places like India with The integrated 5G Non-Terres- the highest performing satellite Reliance Jio and Latin America trial-Network (NTN), consisted platforms and modems in the with Telefonica of a remote terminal which con- market that serve the needs of all nected over a live satellite to the generations of wireless technolo- Sateliot: We are going to have a 5G-enabled ST Engineering iDi- gies. Our link optimization solu- direct to sensor LEO constella- rect hub. The satellite connection tions help provide a similar look tion for 5G IoT (NB-IoT). continued to use the native sat- and feel for end users connected ellite radio at the physical layer. to 5G over a long delay link as ST Engineering iDirect: The 5G The 5G-enabled Intelligent Hub they would experience over a fi- standard promises to totally gateway included physical net- ber or microwave connected base transform overall network ca- work functions for terminating station. pabilities. However, to success- the native satellite connection, fully deploy the full potential of along with a satellite RAN and Hughes: The 5G network is of- 5G, mobile network operators a standard and unmodified com- ten called a “network of net- (MNOs) need satellite to supply mercially available 5G core net- works” because it is, effectively, connectivity hand in hand with work, both of which were virtu- a patchwork of various transport the terrestrial network, in hard- alized. types enabling connectivity, and to-reach areas, for mobile termi- We have also been involved this includes, of course, satellite nals, to offload network conges- with proof-of-concept testing for transport. In fact, satellite will be tion, to enhance user experience 5G content distribution leverag- a critical element of 5G globally. i.e., by using multicasting, rerout- ing edge computing where video There will always be places where ing non-latency sensitive services content distribution technology terrestrial fiber/microwave back- and backhauling 5G traffic from is designed to operate over a sat- haul is not available and where remote areas, among other use ellite network with 4G/5G and satellite provides the most cost-ef- cases. That’s why the satellite in- Multi-access Edge Computing fective – if not the only – back- dustry, including ST Engineering (MEC) integration. The tech- haul connectivity path. To sup- iDirect, is transforming the fab- nology transforms multimedia port this application, the Hughes ric of our network to better align streaming on mobile devices by JUPITER™ System is already 5G with 5G standards, making it eas- leveraging efficiencies of a tight- ready utilizing non-standalone ier for MNOs to adopt and sell ly integrated hybrid cellular and (NSA) mode, with functionality satellite services in the 5G future. satellite network, enhancing user for Layer 2 transport support and In order to facilitate the integra- streaming experience and reduc- July-August 2021 15 ing network operation costs. Telesat has demonstrated the ing them to reduce the possibility Our Mx-DMA return technol- ability of serving 5G requirements of detection or interception. This ogy also fully addresses 5G use with the world’s first 5G back- is the next step in resilient, glob- cases for very high throughput haul demo over its LEO satellite, al communications and networks but also IoT/Machine to machine in partnership with the Vodafone that are expanded in both capa- MTC and optimized latency. The Group and the University of Sur- bility and access. technology abides to Self-Orga- rey’s 5G Innovation Centre. Test nizing Networks (SON) rules results confirmed round-trip la- Ubiquitous global communi- with automatic configuration, tency of 18-40 milliseconds and cations from space provides tre- optimization, and diagnostic the ability to deliver throughput mendous opportunity to deliv- functionality. to meet the demand of live trans- er direct access and roaming to We are ultimately working to- missions of 4K and 8K video, disconnected users. Based on the wards end-to-end service orches- along with simultaneous encrypt- 3GPP standards, Non-Terrestri- tration and seamless integration ed video calls and web browsing. al Networks (NTN) can support of satellite into the 5G telco infra- Telesat Lightspeed is a non- voice over IP, text, IOT device structure which will also enable GEO network that has interna- data and government command edge computing. This will ensure tional Ka-band priority spectrum and control solutions. These