Study on Mitigation Mechanisms for Large Propagation Delays and Base Station Baseband Hardware Requirements for 5G Non-Terrestrial Networks (ARD/297)

Internationally, there is growing demand increasing market demand for Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) communications technologies. It is anticipated that 5G NTN can enable public safety applications (e.g., emergency networks especially in rural areas and offshore) and commercial Internet of Things applications (e.g., agriculture, asset tracking, metering, etc.). As part of the continuous effort to extend ASTRI’s 5G technology portfolio and address market needs for NTN solutions, the project team will develop algorithms on mitigation mechanisms for large propagation delays in 5G NTN: (a) Reference timing advance values broadcast by base station and timing advance values of terminals; (b) Random access channel occasions for multiple terminals; and (c) Scheduling offset value of uplink transmission. The algorithms are compliant with 3GPP standard specifications. Through this project, ASTRI can generate algorithms and system designs towards 5G NTN base station and terminal R&D. In turn, ASTRI can create various collaboration opportunities and has already attracted interest from industry (e.g., n-hop technologies).