SATis5
The main challenge addressed in the SATis5 project is the satellite-terrestrial network integration within the 5G ecosystem.
The activity tackles the following major technical challenges concerning the various technology enablers:
The demonstrator showcases for the first time in a live environment the benefits of using satellite technology in 5G enabling a better understanding of the role that satellite could have in 5G systems.
Following a modular architecture, the testbed is designed to be able to incorporate additional remote testbeds within a large scale federation, next to the proposed four nodes, through this being able to naturally extend towards other locations.
Through the harmonisation of SatCom with 5G network features such as virtualisation, network slicing, control/user plane protocols, broadcast/multicast, SATis5 serves and enables the following new business models:
SATis5 also brings key benefits for the 5G mobile industry:
The testbed provides a full end-to-end technology integration addressing the 5G communication environment including satellite and terrestrial components. Key technologies include:
The testbed is based on a set of remote nodes that include their own communicating devices, local access network, local edge functionality and central nodes incorporating the rest of the support as well as the end-to-end network management. From the perspective of the satellite connectivity two modes are considered: backhaul connectivity for terrestrial 5G networks and direct 5G communication
The high level system architecture concerning backhaul looks like as follows:
whilst concerning direct connectivity it is as follows:
The SATis5 project has a 24-month duration, which is complemented by an additional 12-month testbed service phase.
The testbed development consists of four major phases:
The demonstrator remains available for an additional year as part of the testbed service phase.
The first implementation of the SATis5 testbed is completed. Two important demonstrations of integrated satellite terrestrial communication use cases have been demonstrated during the FUSECO FORUM 2018 (https://www.fokus.fraunhofer.de/ngni/events/fuseco_forum_2018#):
Both demonstrations showcased technology enablers for multi-sliced 5G Satellite enabled edge nodes, fixed and portable as the satcom-enabled van.