Standardized 5G NTN New Radio – What are the Technical Requirements, Use Cases, and Vision?

How can 5G NTN New Radio be applied in the real world – now and in the future?

5G Non-Terrestrial Network New Radio (5G NTN NR) will enable true global coverage. By using satellites to convey coverage it is possible to cover even the areas hardest to reach like oceans and desserts.

By using the same standards for both terrestrial and non-terrestrial services 5G NTN NR will enable use of the same mobile device for your communication needs both when inside terrestrial coverage and when outside without the need for two devices or modems to connect via satellite.

Watch the recorded webinar to find answers
What are the expected technical requirements to realize 5G NTN New Radio? What type of use cases will it cater to? How can we work together as an industry to align technological maturity and development pace to the evolving needs of the end users and markets?

Webinar Agenda

What are the requirements for New Radio to be realized? Spectrum, capacity and bandwidth
Backhauling vs. direct-to-satellite
Transparent mode and regenerative mode
What will the typical use cases look like?
How can we as an industry push the pace of technological maturity?
Q & A

Presenters from Gatehouse Satcom:
Svend Holme Sørensen – Product Director
Thorleif Astrup Hallund – Senior Business Development Manager

If interested in learning more about the potential of 5G New Radio NTN, check out this popular piece published in Via Satellite in May 2023.

On demand

FAQ

Is Release 17 all about NB-IoT and how can I make a business case based on the release?

3GPP Release 17 includes specifications for both 5G NR NTN and NB-IoT NTN. NB-IoT can for example be profitable to service providers by the number of devices served. Depending on the link budget it will serve a huge number of devices with limited data transmissions. Gatehouse Satcom can assist you in testing your business cases by doing a study and performing demonstrations. We provide details on expected capacity based on the characteristics of your constellation to be used for building a business case.

Is 5G New Radio NTN more suitable for GEO or LEO satellites?

3GPP 5G NR NTN can operate on both GEO and NGSO satellite constellations. Release 17 specifies transparent mode of operation which means that end-user devices can be served when there is a connectivity between RAN located at the ground-station and the satellite serving the device.

What is the technical difference in terminal device comply with 3GPP REL17 between working with LEO satellite and GEO satellite in relation to 5G New Radio NTN? Is the difference only antenna performance?

UEs indicate their capability to support GEO or NGSO (LEO/MEO) in the Access Request. NGSO support entails features for dealing with large Doppler offsets and changes. GEO support requires a more limited scope of features, e.g. timing advance to account for the TX/RX delay. The link budget is affected by antenna gain on both satellite and device.

When can I buy a neatly packaged 5G New Radio base station software stack from you?

Gatehouse Satcom is in the initial product development phases of 5G NR NTN software. In addition we are currently contributing to the standardisation in 3GPP and doing architectural considerations on how to incorporate 5G NR. We encourage interested parties to get in contact to discuss potential partnerships and timelines in more detail.

Which functionalities of the 5G NTN gNB would be suitable to run directly on satellite?

The split architecture described by O-Ran alliance and several industry contributions have suggested several different splits of functionality ranging from RU+DU on the satellite to complete RAN and parts of the Core Network on the satellite. The split architecture was designed in a TN context and there are several proposals for 3GPP release 19 to find what is best suited for NTN and the use cases to be served. IAB via satellite is very feasible and may bring broadband 5G via VSAT to very remote areas.

How much gain do you really need for a satellite?

Unfortunately there is no direct answer to this question as it also depends on satellite orbit, frequency band, elevation and other parameters. If there are specific requests for analysis, we recommend doing a feasibility study. Typically GEO satellites have very highly directive anteannas ~40 dB gain

How critical is the control of interferences in the satellite ground station between 5G spectrum and the satellite communications?

Ground stations are normally located in remote areas to limit the risk of interference and they need to obtain licenses for the use of spectrum. Furthermore directional antennas with large dishes are used to minimize impact. In general TN 5G spectrum and NTN 5G spectrum will be located in separate spectra.

All FAQ’s

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The State of 5G NR NTN: Key insights and future directions for 2025 and beyond

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