System design study of a constellation of small spacecraft to deliver seamless 5G connectivity to unmodified cell phones through an end-to-end non-terrestrial network

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dc.contributor.authorVargas Avila, Gerardo
dc.contributor.authorAnastasopoulos, Marios
dc.contributor.authorLiao, Zuliang
dc.contributor.authorMorea, Albert
dc.contributor.authorCapell, Elliot
dc.contributor.authorKoenig, Anton
dc.contributor.authorLópez Buqué, Iñigo
dc.contributor.authorRavishankar, Sreekrishna
dc.contributor.authorRuiz, Diego Larrauri
dc.contributor.authorCordova, Asis
dc.contributor.authorHaynez, Guillaume
dc.contributor.authorKommareddy, Sai Tejaswi
dc.contributor.authorGarzaniti, Nicola
dc.date.accessioned2023-11-17T11:42:57Z
dc.date.available2023-11-17T11:42:57Z
dc.date.issued2023-10-06
dc.description.abstractThe increasing demand for high-speed mobile data services has led to the development of 5G and 6G technology, which promises to revolutionize the way people access and use the internet. However, the full exploitation of 5G network potential is often limited by the challenges related to the deployment of the physical infrastructure required to support these networks. In order to address these limitations, a new approach is needed to bring 5G services to areas that are currently underserved. This paper presents the results of a system design study that explores the use of a constellation of small spacecraft to deliver seam-less 5G connectivity to unmodified cell phones, through an endto-end non-terrestrial network. Within the study, several use cases have been considered including offering enhanced service to cities and connecting areas not served by traditional mobile services such as remote regions, ships and offshore platforms, regions hit by natural disasters and contested battlefields. A trade space exploration approach was undertaken to identify the optimal solution for meeting stakeholders’ requirements associated with the different use cases. The analysis explores the effects of key architectural decisions on overall system performance and lifecycle cost, benchmarking them against foreseen customers’ needs and market demand. A variety of alternatives were evaluated including the number of satellites, types of orbits, number of orbital planes, satellite size, weight and power, antenna technologies, inter-satellite links technologies and routing schemes among others. As a result, it was proposed the use of a constellation of about 3000 satellites in a sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit (LEO) orbit, with a satellite lifetime of 5 years. Each satellite is equipped with a phased array antenna in 5G non-terrestrial band frequency n256 for direct connectivity to unmodified user cell phones and free space optical telecommunication terminals for on-orbit backhauling. Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components for spacecraft subsystems and sensors were considered when available. With more than 95% of Earth coverage and high system scalability, the mission represents a promising solution for providing global 5G connectivity paving the way for a more connected world.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationVargas Avila G, Anastasopoulos M, Liao Z, et al., (2023) System design study of a constellation of small spacecraft to deliver seamless 5G connectivity to unmodified cell phones through an end-to-end non-terrestrial network. In: 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2023, 2-6 October 2023, Baku, Azerbaijan. Paper number 77798en_UK
dc.identifier.urihttps://dl.iafastro.directory/event/IAC-2023/paper/77798/
dc.identifier.urihttps://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/20554
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherInternational Astronautical Federation (IAF)en_UK
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 International*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/*
dc.subject5G from spaceen_UK
dc.subjectsatellite communicationen_UK
dc.subject5Gen_UK
dc.subjectnon-terrestrial networken_UK
dc.subjectspace technologyen_UK
dc.titleSystem design study of a constellation of small spacecraft to deliver seamless 5G connectivity to unmodified cell phones through an end-to-end non-terrestrial networken_UK
dc.typeConference paperen_UK

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