Eutelsat Group has successfully conducted the world’s first trial of 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) technology using the Eutelsat OneWeb low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
According to the company, the tests pave the way for the development of the 5G NTN standard, which will result in satellite and terrestrial network interoperability, lower the cost of access, and enable the use of satellite broadband for 5G-enabled devices globally.
The trial used Eutelsat OneWeb satellites, with the MediaTek NR NTN test chipset, and NR NTN test gNB provided by ITRI, implementing the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 specifications. Sharp, Rhode & Schwarz provided the antenna array and test equipment and the LEO satellites, built by Airbus, carry transponders, with K-under (Ku)-band service link, K-above (Ka)-band feeder link, and adopted the ‘Earth-moving beams’ concept.
The company further stated that during the trial, the 5G user terminal successfully connected to the 5G core via the satellite link and exchanged traffic.
