Non-Terrestrial Networks in 5g and 6g: Expanding the Frontiers of Wireless Communications

＂The 5G wireless communications technology is being deployed around the world in Terrestrial Networks (TNs). 3GPP introduced the feature of the NTN in Release 17 in June 2022. 3GPP is currently working on enhancing the NTN in Release 18, which is expected to be completed by December 2023 or early 2024. Commercial deployments of 5G-based NTNs could begin to appear in 2023. A large percentage of the Earth’s surface is not covered by terrestrial cellular communications. Furthermore, mobile broadband services are available in a limited geographic areas. The NTN can provide communications services even when the traditional radio network of a terrestrial system is damaged or destroyed. Hence, the NTN is integral to universal mobile broadband services across the globe. While companies such as SpaceX Starlink and Amazon Kuiper are being deployed, standards-based NTN deployments would become the mainstream (e.g., SpaceX and Amazon satellites can be configured to work with 5G)＂-- Provided by publisher.

Dr. Nishith D. Tripathi is a Research Associate Professor at Virginia Tech, USA. Dr. Tripathi has 24 years of industry experience at Nortel Networks, Huawei Technologies, Award Solutions, and Samsung Research America. He is a co-author of five books related to cellular communications, AI, 5G, and O-RAN.

Dr. Jeffrey H. Reed is the Willis G Worcester Professor of Electrical Engineering at Virginia Tech, USA. Dr. Reed is co-author or co-editor of five textbooks and is on the editorial board for IEEE/Wiley Press. He is a fellow of the IEEE for his contributions to software defined radio, communications signal processing, and engineering education.