Abstract
The next frontier towards truly ubiquitous connectivity is the use of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) small-satellite constellations to support 5G and Beyond-5G (B5G) networks. Besides enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC), LEO constellations can support ultra-reliable communications (URC) with relaxed latency requirements of a few tens of milliseconds. Small-satellite impairments and the use of low orbits pose major challenges to the design and performance of these networks, but also open new innovation opportunities. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the physical and logical links, along with the essential architectural and technological components that enable the full integration of LEO constellations into 5G and B5G systems. Furthermore, we characterize and compare each physical link category and explore novel techniques to maximize the achievable data rates.
Highlights
Constellations of small satellites flying in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) and working all together as a communication network present an attractive solution to support and complement 5G New Radio (NR) and Beyond-5G (B5G) communications [1]–[4]
These constellations are deployed at altitudes between 500 and 2000 km and their integration with 5G NR will provide nearly-global coverage and support for: 1) enhanced mobile broadband, to offer increased user data rates; 2) massive Machine-Type Communications, to enable a wide range of Internet of Things (IoT) applications operating over vast geographical areas; and 3) Ultra-Reliable Communications (URC), to provide one-way latency guarantees in the order of 30 ms [2], with typical 2 ms propagation delays between ground and LEO
We characterized the physical links in LEO constellations in terms of propagation delay, Doppler shift, and achievable data rates
Summary
Constellations of small satellites flying in Low Earth Orbits (LEO) and working all together as a communication network present an attractive solution to support and complement 5G New Radio (NR) and Beyond-5G (B5G) communications [1]–[4]. In the radio access, the analysis of the benefits of resource allocation to mitigate interference with different resource types, namely orthogonal frequencies and codes This is illustrated in terms of the effective data rates for communication between satellites.
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