The connection uses OneWeb (Eutelsat) satellites with Ku-band conditional handover. And NR-NTN stands for New Radio-Non-Terrestrial Network.
Rel-19
Note that 5G-advanced has also been dubbed as 5.5G.
The 3GPP Release 19 of 5G Advanced is not, currently, officially available to the public. But it has reached “frozen” status, in September.
Release 19 introduces a concept of “Ambient IoT” for passive devices to harvest energy from the environment in a small form factor, says the 3GPP standards body.
Satcoms
“By partnering with Airbus Defence and Space, Eutelsat and partners, this innovative step in the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks proves why collaboration is an essential ingredient in boosting competitiveness and growth of Europe’s satellite communications sector,” said David Phillips, head of the systems, strategic programme lines and technology department within ESA’s Connectivity and Secure Communications directorate.
“ESA is delighted to have exchanged knowledge and expertise with industry, as we work towards our joint aim to provide seamless connectivity for the benefit of Europe and beyond.”
The ESA’s Connectivity and Secure Communications directorate hosts the agency’s “Space for 5G/6G & Sustainable Connectivity” programme.
NTN handover
For its part, Airbus highlighted the radio capabilities of the satellites.
“This connectivity demonstration performed with Airbus-built LEO Eutelsat satellites confirms our product adaptability,” said Elodie Viau, head of telecom and navigation systems at Airbus.
“The successful showcase of Advanced New Radio NTN handover capability marks a major step towards enabling seamless, global broadband connectivity for 5G devices.”
Channel characterisation
Rohde & Schwarz was contributing test and measurement expertise. For real-time NR-NTN channel characterisation, it used the company’s high-end signal generation and analysis instruments R&S SMW200A and FSW.
Goce Talaganov, vice-president of mobile radio testers at Rohde & Schwarz, commented: “Our CMX500-based NTN test suite replicated the Ku-band conditional handover scenarios in the lab.
“This rigorous testing, which addresses the challenges of satellite-based communications, paved the way for further performance optimisation of MediaTek’s and Sharp’s 5G-Advanced NTN devices.”
5G-Advanced
Other parties, of course, have been advancing space-based 5G connectivity.
AST, for example, has been working on space-based 5G connectivity. And Vodafone has highlighted making a space-enabled video call in a Not-Spot. And the ESA and Telesat have been establishing a 5G connection with non-geostationary satellite.
Also, Sateliot and Nordic Semi have also connected 5G IoT devices from LEO satellites
And, in May, LG was demonstrating in-vehicle calls – an IoT-NTN vehicle bringing emergency calls to the streets of Paris.
Indeed, as far back as 2022 SatixFy was demonstrating a 5G link through LEO satellite constellation.
Image: OneWeb
