Rendering of a OneWeb satellite. Photo: Eutelsat

A European team involving the European Space Agency (ESA), Airbus Defence and Space, and Eutelsat demonstrated 5G New Radio signal handover with a OneWeb satellite. 

ESA’s Connectivity & Secure Communications directorate announced the milestone on Monday, which was part of a recent test at the 5G/6G Telecom Lab at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in The Netherlands. 

ESA explained that legacy terrestrial network handover procedures for 5G signals have not been suitable for non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). The demonstration involved a new specified Conditional Handover protocol designed so that signals can be configured quickly within a narrow window of availability during satellite passes. This is a milestone toward deploying integrated terrestrial and satellite networks

Daniele Finocchiaro, head of Telecom R&D and Projects at Eutelsat, said the demo makes Eutelsat the first satellite operator to test NTN broadband over Ku-band LEO satellites.

MediaTek designed the user equipment for the test, with Sharp providing the UE array antenna. Rohde & Schwarz and ITRI also provided the non-terrestrial network test & measurement equipment and gNodeB respectively.

“The successful showcase of Advanced New Radio NTN handover capability marks a major step towards enabling seamless, global broadband connectivity for 5G devices,” commented Elodie Viau, head of Telecom and Navigation Systems at Airbus.