Satellite Communication systems are a promising solution to extend and complement terrestrial networks in unserved or under-served areas. This aspect is reflected by recent commercial and standardisation endeavours. In particular, 3GPP recently initiated a Study Item for New Radio-based, i.e., 5G, Non-Terrestrial Networks aimed at deploying satellite systems either as a stand-alone solution or as an integration to terrestrial networks in mobile broadband and machine-type communication scenarios. However, typical satellite channel impairments, as large path losses, delays, and Doppler shifts, pose severe challenges to the realisation of a satellite-based NR network. In this paper, based on the architecture options currently being discussed in the standardisation fora, we discuss and assess the impact of the satellite channel characteristics on the physical and Medium Access Control layers, both in terms of transmitted waveforms and procedures for enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) and NarrowBand-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) applications. The proposed analysis shows that the main technical challenges are related to the PHY/MAC procedures, in particular Random Access (RA), Timing Advance (TA), and Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) and, depending on the considered service and architecture, different solutions are proposed.

SUMMARYMulti-user multiple-input multiple-output (MU-MIMO) has allowed recent releases of terrestrial long-term evolution (LTE) standards to achieve significant improvements in terms of offered system capacity. The publication of the DVB-S2X standard and particularly of its novel superframe structure is a key enabler for applying similar interference management techniques -such as precoding-to multibeam high throughput satellite (HTS) systems. This paper presents results from the European Space Agency-funded R&D activities concerning the practical issues that arise when precoding is applied over an aggressive frequency re-use HTS network. In addressing these issues, the paper also proposes pragmatic solutions that have been developed in order to overcome these limitations. Through the application of a comprehensive system simulator, it is demonstrated that important capacity gains (beyond 40%) are to be expected from applying precoding even after introducing a number of significant practical impairments.

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SUMMARYThe exploitation of adaptive coding and modulation techniques for broadband multi-beam satellite communication networks operating at Ka-band and above has been shown to theoretically provide large system capacity gains. In this paper, the problem of how to accurately estimate the time-variant channel and how to adapt the physical layer taking into account the effects of estimator errors and (large) satellite propagation delays is analyzed, and practical solutions for both the forward and the reverse link are proposed. A novel pragmatic solution to the reverse link physical layer channel estimation in the presence of time-variant bursty interference has been devised. Physical layer adaptation algorithms jointly with design rules for hysteresis thresholds have been analytically derived. The imperfect physical layer channel estimation impact on the overall system capacity has been finally derived by means of an original semianalytical approach. Through comprehensive system simulations for a realistic system study case, it is showed that the devised adaptation algorithms are able to successfully track critical Ka-band fading time series with a limited impact on the system capacity while satisfying the link outage probability requirement.

LTE-based satellite systems in LEO constellations are a promising solution for extending broadband coverage to areas not connected to a terrestrial infrastructure. However, the large delays and Doppler shifts over the satellite channel pose severe technical challenges to a traditional LTE system. In this paper, two architectures are proposed for a LEO megaconstellation realizing a satellite-enabled LTE system, in which the on-ground LTE entity is either an eNB (Sat-eNB) or a Relay Node (Sat-RN). Focusing on the latter, the impact of large delays and Doppler shifts on LTE PHY/MAC procedures is discussed and assessed. It will be shown that, while carrier spacings, Random Access, and RN attach procedures do not pose specific issues, HARQ requires substantial modifications. Moreover, advanced handover procedures will be also required due to the satellites' movement.