By Andrew Aroh

Major satellite manufacturers are now set to create a new NGSO [Non-Geosynchronous] satellite constellation for low latency broadband services using HIGH DATA RATE [HDR] V- band.

Their rational for building and operating a LEO constellation stems from the frequently cited implacable rise in connectivity needs around the world requiring low latency.

Between rising commercial demand and government driven universal broadband service obligations, the companies expects satellite could play a major role.

It really comes down to the insatiable demand for bandwidth that we see in the marketplace. The amount of bits being required by all of us is growing on the order of 20-something percent a year, and in order to meet that demand there are certain areas where satellite has advantages over terrestrial approaches.

Customers lack choice in the broadband provider options especially in remote and rural areas, meaning there is room for more satellite broadband players to compete, providing ubiquity.

On the technology side, the manufacturer would want to taking its digital play load technology for its GEO system and putting into a small satellite form factor [SSFF].

This is because there is a definite advantage in applying them to the V-band NGSO system. The digital payloads are scalable and can be sized up or down as needed. Typically a sixth generation digital payload for HTS [High throughput satellite] can be equipped with the seventh generation that has twice the capacity of generation six.

The new trend is to shorten development cycles of satellite and make sure the next generation capabilities are brought up quickly and not have these long developments cycles that have been in the past.

The process involves continuous miniaturization in order to fit more transistors on integrated circuits [ICs] or essentially bringing Moore’s law to bear in space. This could dovetail well with the manufacturer’s LEO ambitions, as satellites in this orbit typically have shorter life spans and therefore requires less radiation hardening compared to 15years geostationary satellites.

On the spectrum front, the constellation could downlink information in the 37.5 to 40.0 GHz band on a shared access basis with the proposed upper microwave flexible use [UMFU] service, adopting exclusion zones or out-of-band emission limits. In the filing, the uplink spectrum, for fixed satellite services [FSS] could be in the 50.4 to 51.4 GHz and 51.4 to52.4 GHz bands.

The uplink spectrum will help create a five [5] Gigahertz block of uplink spectrum, paired with FSS downlink spectrum in the 37.5 to 42.5 GHz band, enabling very high-data-rate [HDR] V-band satellite broadband services in the near future.

Recall that a rejoinder to WRC-19 has shown that seven system characteristics are vital for essential communications operations of NGNs for 5G: Coverage, Capacity, Protection, Security, Access [user plane] & Control [control plane], Interoperability, Flexibility/Scalability, and Quality-of-Service [QoS].

33GPP release 14 looked into satellite deployment scenarios.

3GPP release 15 defined the architecture and supports the deployment of application functions, as required for MEC [Mobile or Multi-Access Edge Computing].

3GPP Release 16 leads a study to identify use cases for provision of services with satellite integrated into the 5G system.

These specifications will also trickle down to satellite, including the search for lower latency solutions with many use-cases involving applications deployed at the edge of the network.

5G will lead to a huge shift towards a landscape dominated by wireless connectivity.     

However, 5G is accompanied with deployment of architectures: Fiber [+] Terrestrial Wireless [+] satellite, leveraging network function virtualization [NFV] and software defined networking [SDN] both at the core and edge of the Network. Management of the NFV infrastructure will be performed through a Management and Orchestration. [MANO] Framework: This architecture allows easy integration of multiple applications.

A virtual evolved packet core [vEPC] application would extend local call switching possibility.

MEC Platform could host different applications like caching and multicast which can help reduce latency and improve quality-of-experience [QoE] for the user.

5G is a technology that will push the boundaries of throughput and capacity further beyond that of 4G to enable newer types of applications and services in the domains of: Health, Transport [Land, Air, and Sea], Entertainment, M2M, Security, etc. They will provide increased computing power, scalability, reduced operating costs and business models to enable differentiation. 5G will enable instantaneous connectivity to billions of devices, the internet of things [IoT] and a truly connected world-smart city, homes and schools, etc.

In general, testing campaign confirms that LEO provides superior fiber-like performance for high-end satellite services.

The ability to demonstrate fiber-like performance via satellite across a number of applications that perform poorly on GEO satellite backhaul is a testament to the capabilities of LEO network for 5G.

With its high-throughput links, ultra-low latency, and disruptive economics, LEO constellations offer an unparallel value proposition to expand the reach of 4G and 5G networks:

Testing scenarios included:

• High definition video streaming without interruption
• Video conference with teams demonstrating consistent flexibility of movement and voice transmission with user experience matching terrestrial and cellular connections
• Remote desktop connection to seamlessly manage a remote computer
• VPN connection without any delay or outages
• FTP encrypted file transfers of 2GB in both directions
• IPSec tuned encryption with no reduction in the performance of the link.

As satellite professionals plan, design and build offerings to provide best-in-class connectivity for 5G customers, we are eager to explore how cutting-edge technologies like new LEO constellations can integrate with global connectivity infrastructure across every application to deliver an outstanding performance with significant improvement over what we can achieve via GEO satellites today.

However, to get super-high, multi-gigabit speeds, carriers are turning to newer, much higher frequencies known as millimeter wave [mmW]: 3.0-0.3mm

So what do we expect? :

5G networks need to be much smarter than previous systems, as they are juggling many smaller cells than can change size and shape.

5G will be able to boost capacity by four times over current systems by leveraging wider bandwidths and advanced antenna technologies. [Multibeam with MIMO]

The goal is to have far higher speeds available and far higher capacity per sector, at far lower latency than 4G.

The standards bodies involved are aiming at 20Gbps speeds and 1ms latency, at which point very interesting things begin to happen.

5G home internet shows one major advantage over 4G: Huge Capacity.

Carriers can’t offer competitively priced 4G home internet because there just isn’t enough capacity on 4G cell sites for the 200GB of monthly usage most homes now expect.

5G could really increase home internet competition where 50 percent of Nigerians only have one option for 20Mbps or higher home internet service.

In the USA, a carrier, like Verizon says its 5G service will be truly unlimited.

5G home internet is also much easier for carriers to roll out than house-to-house fiber optic lines. Rather than digging up every street, carriers just have to install fiber optics to a Cell Site Or Access Point  every few blocks, and then give consumers wireless modems. Most carriers now know that 5G wireless will give it much broader coverage than its fiber optic FiOS service.

Hence, satellite’s LEO constellations will offer carriers the required direct-to-home [DTH] internet service with the high bandwidth, low latency, or low-power-low cost aspects of 5G.

The small cells aspect of 5G [Both for cellular and satellite networks – since both technology uses cells with the antennas] may also help with in-building coverage, as it encourages every home router to become a cell site or access point.

Dedicated in-building and home systems that connect mobile users and wireless devices to the main core network are required for one-hop direct-to-home [DTH] internet Access/connectivity via satellite. 

The core network is the mobile exchange and data network that manages all of the mobile voice, data and internet connections.

For 5G, the core network has been redesigned to better integrate with the internet and cloud based services and also includes distributed servers across the network improving response time [reducing latency].

It is the core network that manages many of the advanced features of 5G, including network function virtualization and network slicing for different applications and services.

With LEO Broadband constellations, Smart Beam Forming for Direct LEO Satellite Access of Future IoT will increase SATCOM offerings.

Andrew Aroh is President SSPI Nigeria