Wireless Technology Taking 5G into space By Eric Dowek, director of marketing, AccelerComm
T
he past twelve months have seen Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) continue to build considerable momentum within the mainstream mobile communications industry, with particular interest in how 5G can be used in a satellite environment. Recent research from the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) showed that 50 operators in 37 countries and territories are planning satellite services, with 10 operators already commercially launched. Against this backdrop the likes of Starlink continue to grow in users and footprint, SES has acquired Intelsat, and Lockheed Martin is set to launch 5G LEO satellites later this year. All of this speaks to a sector in rude health, and one that is rapidly maturing.
However, while this shift brings a range of exciting new possibilities, it also delivers
16 July/August 2024
a new, unique set of challenges not faced by traditional terrestrial 5G. Even within the industry, discussions persist around how best to architect satellite-based 5G networks, taking into account factors such as signal processing, latency, capacity and efficiency, complexity and cost, reliability and redundancy, flexibility and scalability, and security.
The role of technology in satellite integration
The critical distinction between satellite and traditional cellular technologies lies in their orbit altitude and speed. Traditional Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites orbit at an altitude of approximately 35,000 kilometres above the Earth’s surface, and while Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are much closer, their orbits still typically range from 160 to 1600
Components in Electronics
kilometres in altitude, and they are moving at around ten thousand miles per hour - bringing some significant technical challenges. The key to the success of 5G satellite services is the performance of the network, and it is very likely that those providers that do not achieve the required latency, coverage and throughput to match the expected service requirements will fail. Therefore, it goes without saying that to integrate satellite into 5G networks, you need the right technology. This starts with selecting the right antenna technology, radio front end, and the physical layer processor to ensure a high-reliability link without resorting to lower coding rates and low-order modulation schemes, thereby maximising spectral efficiency. This is particularly important in satellites where channel capacity is highly constrained in
comparison to terrestrial networks. The physical layer is a complex component containing all the real-time electrical and logical interface to the antenna. This includes resource-intensive processes such as channel coding and decoding, and other low-level functions. A key component of the 5G baseband processor is the forward error correction (FEC) algorithm, which in 5G is implemented using LDPC - a linear error correction scheme which helps to clean up things such as noise and interference that get in the way of reliable 5G data transmission. LDPC accelerators are used to greatly reduce power consumption and processor requirements for the 5G physical layer. However, the algorithm and architecture used to implement an LDPC decoder can change its performance dramatically. This can
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