Field trial of a 5G non-terrestrial network using OpenAirInterface

Völk, Florian; Schlichter, Thomas; Kaltenberger, Florian; Heyn, Thomas; Casati , Guido; Schwarz , Robert T.; Knopp, Andreas
IEEE Open Journal of Vehicular Technology, Vol.3, 16 May 2022

Satellites enable the provision of global 5G coverage utilizing a customized protocol stack for direct access of 5G devices. This paper reports the results of a field trial based on an Open Source Software (OSS) 5G protocol stack modified for Satellite Communications.
5G New Radio (NR) functions have been adapted to support 3GPP Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) standardization for Release 17. Some of the currently discussed enhancements for 5G NR direct access for NTNs were evaluated in this study utilizing a
geosynchronous satellite system. NTN devices and base station were software-defined solutions communicating via satellite through a standardized 5G NR waveform. The results show that OSS implementations running on general purpose platforms greatly support the research and standardization process for 5G-Beyond NTNs. New functions related to NTNs can be evaluated at an early stage over channel emulators or real world satellites to highlight the capabilities of space based 5G-Beyond networks. Therefore, OSS can be a starting point to turn the vision of 6G protocols on-board the satellite into reality.

DOI
Type:
Journal
Date:
2022-05-13
Department:
Communication systems
Eurecom Ref:
6900
Copyright:
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