Prospects of 5G Satellite Networks Development

Abstract

In the future, 5G networks will represent the global telecommunication infrastructure of the digital economy, which should cover the whole world including inaccessible areas not covered by 5G terrestrial networks. Given this, the satellite segment of 5G networks becomes one of the pressing issues of development and standardization at the second stage of 5G networks development in the period 2020–2025. The requirements for 5G satellite network will be determined primarily by combination of key services supported by 5G networks, which are combined by three basic business models of 5G terrestrial networks: enhanced Mobile Broadband Access (eMBB), Massive Internet of Things connections (mIoT), and Ultra-reliable low-latency communication (uRLLC). 3GPP as leading international standards body has identified several use cases and scenarios of 5G satellite networks development. 5G satellite networks are understood to mean networks in which the NG-RAN radio access network is constructed using a satellite network technology. The chapter has discussed the spectral and technological aspects of 5G satellite network developments, issues of architecture and role of delays on quality of services of 5G satellite segment, and possibility of constructing a 5G satellite segment based on distributed and centralized gNB base stations. The issues of satellite payload utilization have considered for bent-pipe and on-board processing technologies in 5G satellite segment.