The Evolution of 5G Networks and the Impact of LEO-Based Satcom Services

The telecom industry has been observing a steady rise in demand for reliable high-speed connectivity services. It is going through the migration to 5G networks to meet these evolving requirements. The key aspects of the same are a significantly large increase in throughput, seamless connectivity demonstration across global networks, and integrating terrestrial networks with satellite networks in a heterogeneous architecture.

Latency and doppler shift are key challenges that are unavoidable when it comes to operating satcom networks. However, the same challenges are relatively less hindering in the case of Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations as their satellites fly much closer to the Earth, and multiple satellites remain visible within their coverage areas. Besides, LEO satellites cover the polar regions, which the Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellites do not.

Operational Benefits of a Heterogeneous Architecture

The integration of satellite networks with terrestrial networks will involve the user terminals connected with both terrestrial as well as satellite networks. Furthermore, the satcom layer will involve the user terminals connecting with satellite directly and through conventional gateway infrastructure. This way, the final state of the heterogeneous 5G architecture will have sufficient redundancies to ensure a seamless global network in play, despite any inherent latency and doppler issues.

While some use cases will not realize a full-fledged 5G service owing to their bandwidth requirements, those reliant on narrow band services like IoT will remain seamlessly integrated into the overall communication architecture. With inter-satellite links enabling mesh networks of satellites, the overall throughput and redundancy of the space segment of the 5G heterogeneous architecture will scale up, enhancing the efficiency of the network.

Expected Challenges of Integrating LEO Constellations

LEO constellations will have their downstream user terminals transitioning continuously between satellites. This frequent transitioning activity poses risks of disruptions in connectivity which require innovation in the ground segment. The mission designs of LEO constellations will involve a lack of perfect symmetry (geometrical), and the operators are also expected to move their satellites as and when they face collision course warnings. This will result in the downstream terminals and gateways optimizing their operations with the help of enhanced satellite positioning data to ensure the connectivity with the space assets remains within an acceptable range of variation of operational parameters.

While 5G performance requirements are expected to be constantly evolving, not all satellite network segments will always fit those criteria. This will require careful segregation of space assets while being integrated with the terrestrial networks so that the non-compliance on performance parameters does not impose bottlenecks on the downstream terminals they serve across relevant use cases.

According to the study conducted by BIS Research, the global 5G satellite communication market is expected to reach $43.21 billion in value by 2032, increasing at a CAGR of 28 percent between 2022 and 2032.

Emerging Opportunities

The key aspects of the final heterogeneous integrated 5G infrastructure will be multiple satellites including LEO constellations, along with Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and GEO satellites; multiple satellite-to-satellite connections; multiple satellite-to-ground connections, multiple fixed and mobile user terminals; and multiple modes of connectivity like gateway-based and direct-with-satellite links.

Besides the demand for a large volume of space hardware to be manufactured and launched, key enabling capabilities such as inter-satellite links will remain critical in enabling the new space networks to promise reliable connectivity solutions for the integrated 5G infrastructure. The ground segment will have a persisting demand for many smaller, lighter, and power-efficient terminals (narrowband and broadband) across applications. Expanding ground station infrastructure will be required to enable the transition to 5G infrastructure across regions where access to gateways is a challenge. These demand scenarios will result in the need for a large volume of space hardware for both the space and ground segments.

The downstream software-defined network infrastructure will play a key role in establishing a reliable LEO constellation and the downstream architecture that seamlessly integrates terrestrial and satellite networks for materializing the ideal 5G heterogeneous integrated infrastructure.

The software solutions will play a critical role in enabling suitable workarounds to counter the challenges. This will create opportunities for the information and communications technology industry to collaborate with the satcom solution developers. They will also play a key role in establishing the standards for the communication architectures across the integrated heterogeneous 5G infrastructure.

5G infrastructure aims to deliver high-end communication capabilities across applications utilizing existing infrastructure along with new terrestrial and satellite communication networks. Satcom will be an integral part, and unlike persisting popular opinion, LEO constellations will enable the expansion and implementation of 5G infrastructure at a global level.

This, however, will not involve replacing or excluding other MEO/GEO satcom infrastructures. All versions of satcom will be involved in various capacities. Also, while being a part of one integrated network, each satcom architecture will be delivering against select applications across select regions based on availability and data rate.

Multiple ground and space-based nodes will evolve, forming a grand heterogeneous mesh network spanning the ground and space domains. The integration of constellations will be sequential depending on how soon they reach full operational capability.

Multiple intermediary relay networks operating across radio frequency and optical modes will enable the smooth integration of satellites. The development and delivery of relevant ground and space hardware along with suitable software solutions will remain critical in the timely deployment of the 5G heterogeneous integrated communication infrastructure. VS

Arun Kumar Sampathkumar is principal analyst for Aerospace & Defense at BIS Research.