Future Directions in Non-Terrestrial Networks

Thanks to technical developments and infrastructure build-out that began in the late 1970s, most of our planet today is interconnected by terrestrial mobile cellular networks. Terrestrial networks have grown to encompass most densely populated regions, but non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) are poised to bring the still-offline portion of the global population into the fold. They will also deliver advances in emergency communications support and more accurate monitoring of terrestrial climates, among other benefits.

NTNs can comprise spaceborne, airborne, and ground-based elements to link cellular networks to satellites, putting end users within satellites’ reach no matter where they may be on the globe. But such schemes bring inherent complexity and challenges given that NTNs use satellites to carry backhaul traffic, entrusting to them a critical aspect of the overall network’s efficiency and reliability.

The key challenges facing developers of next-generation NTNs bring significant opportunities for innovation, and the full potential of these networks remains far from realization. Some of the discussion topics for this webinar may include the following:

• Once deployed, NTN satellite equipment is inaccessible, operating in extreme temperatures with high radiation exposure. How will future NTN deployments improve their resistance to harsh conditions?

• With NTN satellites residing in various orbits (LEO and MEO as well as geostationary) and traveling at disparate speeds, how will NTN-enabled NB-IoT and mobile devices compensate for the wide range of latencies and Doppler shift that they’ll be subject to?

• Size, weight, and power (SWaP) are primary design constraints. How will future NTN designs for 5G and 6G networks evolve to mitigate SWaP concerns?

• Reselection—the process by which IoT and mobile devices hand themselves off from base station to base station—becomes far more complex with NTNs in the mix. How will designers ensure that reselection and roaming functionality complies with the prevailing 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards?

• How might artificial intelligence come into play for optimization of network resource usage, accounting for ground/space weather fluctuations, propagation variability, and pending network-equipment failures?

• What is the outlook for optical communications in the NTN space? What challenges must optical technologies overcome to capture and track light beams in space?

• What role might quantum cryptography play in ensuring the security of communications in an NTN scenario?