Skip to main content

Challenges and Opportunities in Delivering Satellite 5G

Regular readers of this blog are no doubt aware of how many different satellite projects are going on, with or without 5G. Many industry pundits are sure that none of these initiatives will ever break even but that hasn't stopped new and existing players coming up with newer solutions.

Recently, Professor Rob Maunder, CTO of AccelerComm and Tim Farrar, President at TMF Associates delivered a webinar on 'Challenges and Opportunities in Delivering Satellite 5G'. The event abstract says: 

Constellations of 5G satellites are set to play a vital role in completing the technology and connectivity ecosystem addressing critical connectivity challenges, such as data speed and coverage limitations as well fulfilling the needs of a wide range of emerging use cases. We have seen a revolution in the thinking around the potential for 5G applications but while there are considerable opportunities, there are also several challenges.

This webinar will take a deep dive into the market and consider the best technical, strategic and regulatory approaches involved in designing and launching 5G satellite services. It will:

  • Detail the market landscape for satellite 5G including: 5G standards and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) and the state of the current LEO broadband market, including key technology issues in current systems.
  • Provide an overview of direct-to-handset: re-use of satellite frequencies vs ad hoc terrestrial spectrum use (AST), pros and cons of each approach.
  • Outline the market motivations and use cases for full 5G and the technical and regulatory challenges and current geopolitical considerations.
  • Explain lessons that can be learnt from prior attempts at offering cellular service from space including funding needs, and performance shortfalls.
  • It will also provide a detailed technical overview of the 5G radio challenges,  techniques that can be used to improve ‘receive sensitivity’, and AccelerComms Layer 1 solutions for Space applications

The webinar video is embedded as follows:

You can download the Tim Farrar's slides here and Prof. Rob Maunder's slides here.

Happy to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Related Posts:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Laser Inter-Satellite Links (LISLs) in a Starlink Constellation

When we first talked about Starlink back in 2019 , we saw in the video that the concept involved laser communication to communicate between the satellites. While the initially launched satellites did not have the laser communication mechanism built in, it looks like they are being added to the newer ones.  A report from Fast Company in late 2021 said: One of the next big upgrades in telecom will involve satellites firing lasers at each other—to beam data, not blow stuff up. The upside of replacing traditional radio-frequency communication with lasers, that encode data as pulses of light, can be much like that of deploying fiber-optic cable for terrestrial broadband: much faster speeds and much lower latency. “Laser links in orbit can reduce long-distance latency by as much as 50%, due to higher speed of light in vacuum & shorter path than undersea fiber,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted in July about the upgrade now beginning for that firm’s Starlink satellite constellation. ...

IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability (UHR), a.k.a. Wi-Fi 8

Back in 2020 we looked at the introductory post of Wi-Fi 7 which was followed up by a more detailed post in Feb 2022. We are now following on with an introductory post on the next generation Wi-Fi.  A new paper on arXiv explores the journey towards IEEE 802.11bn Ultra High Reliability (UHR), the amendment that will form the basis of Wi-Fi 8. Quoting selected items from the paper  below: After providing an overview of the nearly completed Wi-Fi 7 standard, we present new use cases calling for further Wi-Fi evolution. We also outline current standardization, certification, and spectrum allocation activities, sharing updates from the newly formed UHR Study Group. We then introduce the disruptive new features envisioned for Wi-Fi 8 and discuss the associated research challenges. Among those, we focus on access point coordination and demonstrate that it could build upon 802.11be multi-link operation to make Ultra High Reliability a reality in Wi-Fi 8. The IEEE 802.11bn UHR: Whose ...

NTT Docomo's Disaster Countermeasures to Keep People Connected

Recently I blogged about Disaster Roaming in 3GPP Release-17. While this will take time to be implemented worldwide, it is already available in Japan, maybe not in the 3GPP standardised way. Similarly, back in 2011, I blogged about Earthquake and Tsunami Warning service (ETWS) from NTT Docomo's Journal, it was two days before the  2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami hit. Japan is no stranger to earthquakes, typhoons, and other natural disasters, which can have a devastating effect on infrastructure. To ensure that the mobile networks keep functioning, operators work extremely hard to ensure people remain connected one way or another. NTT Docomo has released a video detailing the countermeasures to keep everyone connected in case of emergencies. The following detail is provided with the video: DOCOMO's network is no exception, and our services could get cut off by a base station power outage, disconnected fiber-optic cable, or other malfunctions. DOCOMO established the three p...