5G NTN : Benefits, Challenges and Use cases

5G NTN refers to the integration of satellite communication and aerial platforms such as HAPS into the 5G ecosystem. Such combination provide extended and global coverage especially in remote, underserved or disaster affected regions. NTN stands for Non Terrestrial Network and HAPS stands for High Altitude Platform Stations

What is 5G NTN

5G NTN is standardized under 3GPP Release 17 and beyond, and is designed to deliver 5G services via LEO (Low Earth Orbit), MEO (Medium Earth Orbit), and GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) satellites, as well as airborne platforms.

It allows user equipment (UE) such as smartphones, IoT devices, and vehicles to connect directly to satellites using the same 5G NR (New Radio) protocol stack.

Key Enablers:

• Satellite payloads that support 5G waveforms such as OFDM
• Ground control stations that interconnect satellite links with 5G core.
• Doppler and delay compensation mechanisms.

Use cases

• Emergency response and public safety
• Remote agriculture and mining
• Autonomous ship/aircraft operations
• IoT in Arctic and rural areas
• Disaster recovery communications

Advantages of 5G NTN

Following are some of the benefits of 5G NTN.

1. Provides 5G connectivity globally by covering remote, rural, oceanic and polar regions.
2. Maintains communications during terrestrial network outages or natural disasters.
3. Enables seamless broadband in aircraft, ships and remote industrial sites.
4. Very useful in temporary communication setups.
5. Standardized NTN allows roaming between satellite and terrestrial networks.

Disadvantages of 5G NTN

Following are some of the challenges of 5G NTN.

1. GEO satellites introduce delays (~ 500 ms for round trip), which impacts real time apps.
2. LEO satellites move rapidly (~ 7.5 km/s), which causes significant frequency shifts.
3. UE needs more power to transmit signal to reach satellites.
4. Satellites use steerable beams; handover and beam tracking are complex.
5. Launching and maintaining stellite constellations and gateways is expensive.
6. Requires advanced security and interference mitigation mechanisms.

Conclusion

5G NTN extends the promise of 5G beyond terrestrial limits by using satellites and aerial platforms to achieve ubiquitous coverage, especially for mission critical and hard to reach scenarios. While the benefits are significant, especially in expanding digital inclusion and enabling global IoT, it also brings technical and economic challenges related to latency, power and complexity.