Description
Objective:The objective of this activity is to develop and test a power efficient 5G User Plane Function (UPF) prototype, implemented onto space enabled hardware platforms. The development will leverage concrete laboratory results of various RAN splits and compensate for their impact on the 5G protocol stack. Finally, system integration with a ground segment control plane will be tested, over emulated LEO constellationsTargeted Improvements:- At least 50 % power consumption reduction when compared to terrestrial 5G user plane deployments.- Reduced user plane latency.- Reduced control plane signalling.- Device to device communications over 5G-enable satellite payloads. - Develop a 5G user plane prototype on space enabled hardware.Description:Amongst all, regenerative payloads could provide delay sensitive communications, neutral hosting services for cross-border service continuation, store and forward operations, and connectivity among two or more 5G User Equipment (UE) devices for emergency response and disaster relief services. Due to their low cost and short production cycles, small satellites are attractive to host 5G enabled payloads. In contrast to terrestrial 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) and Core Network (CN) deployments, on board payloads are bound to stringent power, and mass constraints imposed by the platform. As an example, a typical microsatellite can support an average of 100W power for pure payload operations, whereas a typical 5G terrestrial network, can consume over 2000W assuming high availability within a virtualised network infrastructure. It is apparent that to fit a 5G payload under these rigorous restrictions, a high degree of optimisation is required to current RAN and CN deployments. Currently, there are various options being considered within the NTN community, to shape the on boardB5G regenerative payload. However, there are no studies with respect to power consumption, signalling overhead and standardisation impact of these options. This activity will develop a modified 5G RAN protocol stack and user plane functions to reduce the latencyand power consumption by 50%. This will include signalling reduction techniques over the N2 and Xn interfaces, between the on-board user plane and ground segment control plane infrastructure as well as traffic influencing to steer non-critical traffic. A UPF prototype will be designed, manufactured. Testing will include device-to-device communication (unicast, multicast and broadcast) over emulated LEO constellations. Outputs of this activity shall be available to standardisation bodies.