Soon the concept will not exist "no coverage": Europe has just tested the first direct 5G satellite connection

The European Space Agency (ESA) has achieved the world’s first direct 5G connection with a satellite in low Earth orbit. Before we know it, “running out of coverage” will be an outdated concept.

In short. For the first time in history, ESA and satellite operator Telesat connected a satellite to the ground using 5G NTN network technology in the Ka-band frequency range.

The European Space Research and Technology Center (ESTEC) has defined this milestone as “a crucial step toward making connections from space as easy as using a mobile phone.”

In detail. ESA’s 5G/6G laboratory, located at ESTEC, successfully connected to Telesat’s LEO 3 satellite via the 5G standard. For this they used technology from the French company Amarisoft.

The team established and maintained a stable connection with the satellite as it moved across the sky. The connection lasted from when the satellite appeared just above the horizon to a maximum elevation of 38 degrees, and back to the horizon.

Why it is important. Although the Spanish company Sateliot already offers a 5G NB-IoT connection service from low Earth orbit, the test by ESA, Telesat and Amarisoft marks the first implementation of direct 5G NTN technology with a satellite in low orbit.

Sateliot’s service is aimed at Internet of Things devices and low-power applications, such as weather buoys and agricultural machinery.

Direct 5G NTN connections with low-altitude satellites, which offer lower latency than geostationary satellites, would open the range of applications to services that require interactive connections in real time, such as emergency management, disaster response, rural healthcare , in-flight Internet services and all types of remote industrial operations.

Direct connection. A notable aspect of this public-private collaboration is that it uses 3GPP open standards instead of proprietary radio wave and telecommunications technology. This means that, once available, mobile devices could connect directly to satellites.

Direct connection could reduce the cost and complexity of terrestrial infrastructure, allowing interconnectivity between providers and making continuous coverage possible around the world, just as the 5G standard on our smartphones works, but maintaining the signal on the slope of a mountain thanks to the passage of satellites.

Behind Starlink. Europe is stepping on the accelerator to close the enormous distance that separates it from Starlink. SpaceX’s broadband satellite Internet service has more than 6,000 satellites in operation and three million customers on the ground.

Europe has OneWeb up and running and is preparing its own public constellation, IRIS2. But SpaceX is at another level: while it is asking for permission to offer a 1 Gbps Internet service with its new v2 satellites, it has just completed the first constellation of Direct to Cell satellites, which it is already offering to telephone operators to cover their gaps. coverage in the LTE spectrum.

Image | THAT

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