Abstract

Satellite Communications in the 5G Era explores promising scenarios for 5G Satellite Communications (SatCom), novel paradigms for satellite-terrestrial integration and emerging technologies for the next generation of satellite systems and hybrid/integrated satellite-terrestrial systems, and focuses on recent research efforts towards 5G and beyond. Satellite communications plays a vital role in ensuring seamless access to any telecommunications service anytime and anywhere, and is only a viable option for delivering telecommunication services in a wide range of sectors such as aeronautical, military, maritime, rescue and disaster relief. It should be an important component of 5G-and-beyond wireless architectures as it complements terrestrial telecommunication solutions in various scenarios and will ensure the expansion of the 5G ecosystem towards highly reliable and secure global wireless networks.

Abstract

Key features of satellite communications such as wide-scale coverage, broadcast/multicast support and high availability, together with significant amounts of new satellite capacity coming online, anticipate new opportunities for satellite communications services as an integral part within upcoming 5G systems. To materialize these opportunities, satellite communications services have to be provisioned and operated in a more flexible, agile and cost-effective manner than done today. In this context, this paper firstly describes the architecture of a satellite ground segment system that builds on the introduction of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technologies and then examines a use case for the realization of End-to-End Traffic Engineering in a combined terrestrial-satellite network used for mobile backhauling. Peer Reviewed Document type: Conference object