Satellite communication has recently been included as one of the key enabling technologies for 5G backhauling, especially for the delivery of bandwidth-demanding enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) applications in 5G. In this paper, we present a 5G-oriented network architecture that is based on satellite communications and multi-access edge computing (MEC) to support eMBB applications, which is investigated in the EU 5GPPP Phase-2 SaT5G project. We specifically focus on using the proposed architecture to assure Quality-of-Experience (QoE) of HTTP-based live streaming users by leveraging satellite links, where the main strategy is to realise transient holding and localization of HTTP-based (e.g., MPEG-DASH or HTTP Live Streaming) video segments at 5G mobile edge while taking into account the characteristics of satellite backhaul link. For the very first time in the literature, we carried out experiments and systematically evaluated the performance of live 4K video streaming over a 5G core network supported by a live geostationary satellite backhaul, which validates its capability of assuring live streaming users' QoE under challenging satellite network scenarios.

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Abstract-Satellite communication has recently been included as one of the enabling technologies for 5G backhauling, in particular for the delivery of bandwidth-demanding enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) application data in 5G. In this paper we introduce a 5G-oriented network architecture empowered by satellite communications for supporting emerging mobile video delivery, which is investigated in the EU 5GPPP Phase 2 SAT5G Project. Two complementary use cases are introduced, including (1) the use of satellite links to support offline multicasting and caching of popular video content at 5G mobile edge, and (2) real-time prefetching of DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) video segments by 5G mobile edge through satellite links. In both cases, the objective is to localize content objects close to consumers in order to achieve assured Quality of Experiences (QoE) in 5G content applications. In the latter case, in order to circumvent the large end-to-end propagation delay of satellite links, testbed based experiments have been carried out to identify specific prefetching policies to be enforced by the Multiaccess computing server (MEC) for minimizing user perceived disruption during content consumption sessions.

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The wireless communication is an integral part of the society, however, wireless network infrastructure may not fully function during post-disaster wireless network scenario in which we need wireless services even more than normal circumstances. In such post-disaster scenarios, the base stations (BS) could possibly be dysfunctional or overloaded by an excessive number of user calls or data, whereas user terminals are likely to be partially connected to or fully isolated from the BS radio signals. In this paper, we study the network behavior during the post-disaster when BSs undergo the thinning process due to the damage to the network infrastructure. During network recovery phase, we also study the network performance when new temporary BSs are distributed which will bring the network into BS superposition phase. Furthermore, Device-to-Device (D2D) assisted cellular communication helps to increase the link level network connectivity which is highly appreciated during postdisaster network scenario because the network coverage is more desirable than the network throughout in such cases. We also present the analytical study of D2D and cellular communication and show that it will effectively increase the network coverage which may ultimately save many lives during the golden hours of post-disaster phase.