What does it take to make 5G satellite connectivity work?

As demand for global connectivity continues to grow, extending 5G beyond terrestrial networks has become a natural next step. Satellite-enabled 5G, commonly referred to as 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (5G NTN), is designed to complement existing mobile infrastructure by delivering coverage in areas where ground-based networks are impractical or unavailable.

Launching 5G satellite connectivity into space, however, is not simply a matter of placing base stations on satellites. It introduces a set of technical and architectural challenges related to distance, latency, mobility, and system behaviour. These challenges must be addressed carefully to ensure that satellite-based 5G can deliver predictable performance while remaining aligned with evolving standards.

This article outlines what it takes to make 5G work over satellite links and highlights the key considerations shaping real-world 5G NTN deployments.

Closing the link budget for 5G NTN

A fundamental question in any satellite communication system is whether the link budget can be closed. The link budget defines whether a signal can travel from the transmitter to the receiver with sufficient quality, accounting for distance, noise, antenna gain, and various losses along the path.

For 5G NTN, this calculation is particularly critical. Compared to traditional satellite services, 5G introduces higher data rate expectations and tighter performance requirements. Without a viable link budget, even the most advanced system architecture will fail to deliver meaningful connectivity.

Early-stage 5G NTN feasibility studies are often used to explore whether performance targets can be met before committing to system design or deployment decisions. These studies, supported by realistic simulations and emulation, consistently show that closing the link budget for 5G satellite systems is achievable under defined conditions, provided that system parameters and operational assumptions are carefully designed and validated.

As a result, link budget analysis remains one of the first and most important steps when assessing the feasibility of 5G NTN deployments.

GEO, MEO, and LEO satellites in 5G NTN

Satellite-based 5G can be deployed across multiple orbital regimes. Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites each offer distinct characteristics that influence latency, coverage, and system complexity.

GEO satellites

GEO satellites orbit at approximately 36,000 km above Earth and offer extremely wide-area coverage. A single satellite can serve an entire continent, making GEO systems attractive for broad coverage scenarios and infrastructure-efficient deployments.

The primary challenge associated with GEO-based 5G satellite connectivity is latency. The long distance between the satellite and the ground introduces significant propagation delay, which can impact delay-sensitive services such as voice communication, real-time video, and interactive applications.

MEO satellites

MEO satellites operate at altitudes between GEO and LEO, typically ranging from several thousand to around 20,000 km above Earth. This orbital regime offers a balance between coverage and latency.

Compared to GEO, MEO systems provide lower propagation delay while still enabling wider coverage than LEO satellites. As a result, MEO can be attractive for use cases that require improved latency characteristics without the full complexity and scale of large LEO constellations. However, MEO deployments still involve constellation management and handover considerations that must be addressed at the system level.

LEO satellites

LEO satellites operate at much lower altitudes, resulting in significantly shorter round-trip times and reduced latency. This makes LEO systems well suited for performance-critical 5G NTN use cases and for extending connectivity to remote or underserved regions.

However, achieving global coverage with LEO satellites requires large constellations due to their limited coverage footprint and shorter orbital periods. The rapid relative motion between LEO satellites and ground stations also introduces Doppler shifts, which must be actively managed to maintain stable 5G satellite links.

Key technical challenges when launching 5G into space

From a system perspective, launching 5G via satellite introduces several recurring technical challenges that must be addressed early in the design phase:

• Long propagation delays, particularly in GEO systems, affecting latency-sensitive services.
• Moderate latency and constellation management complexity in MEO deployments.
• Doppler shifts, especially in LEO constellations, caused by high relative satellite velocities.
• Link budget constraints, driven by distance, power limitations, and antenna characteristics.
• Mobility and handover complexity, as satellites move relative to ground terminals.
• Scalability requirements, particularly for LEO constellations providing continuous global coverage.

Addressing these challenges is essential to ensuring that 5G satellite connectivity can deliver consistent and predictable performance.

Addressing 5G NTN challenges through software

Many of the challenges associated with 5G satellite connectivity can be mitigated through advanced software design and protocol behaviour.

Propagation delay can be addressed using mechanisms that optimise data flow, manage packet loss, and compensate for long round-trip times. Error correction and retransmission strategies further improve robustness across satellite links, particularly under varying channel conditions.

In LEO-based 5G NTN systems, adaptive software behaviour is essential to handle Doppler effects. By dynamically adjusting to changing frequency conditions, software can maintain signal integrity as satellites move rapidly relative to the ground.

Scalability is another critical consideration. Large constellations rely on intelligent coordination, routing, and handover mechanisms to enable seamless transitions between satellites. These capabilities are typically implemented at the network node level, where NB-IoT NTN eNodeB software plays an important role in managing satellite-specific constraints.

To verify system behaviour under realistic conditions, controlled testing and emulation environments are commonly used. A dedicated 5G NTN validation platform allows performance assumptions to be assessed before deployment.

Launching 5G into space requires more than satellites

Delivering 5G via satellite is as much a software and system architecture challenge as it is a space and radio challenge. While orbital choice directly influences latency and coverage, it is robust protocol design, careful system integration, and realistic validation that ultimately determine whether 5G NTN can meet real-world performance expectations.

As satellite-enabled 5G continues to evolve, advances in software-based mitigation techniques and system-level optimisation will remain central to enabling reliable, standards-aligned, and scalable 5G satellite connectivity from space.