Rohde & Schwarz and partners complete 5G-Advanced NR-NTN satellite connection test
Rohde & Schwarz, ESA, and a group of industry partners have successfully demonstrated the first 3GPP Rel-19 5G-Advanced NR-NTN connection using Eutelsat's OneWeb satellite constellation.
A consortium including the European Space Agency (ESA), MediaTek, Eutelsat, Airbus, Sharp, ITRI, and Rohde & Schwarz has conducted a trial of 5G-Advanced Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) technology. The test, which utilized Eutelsat’s OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, confirmed the viability of 3GPP Release 19 configurations, including a 50 MHz channel bandwidth in the Ku-band and conditional handover capabilities.
The demonstration involved communication between a MediaTek NR-NTN chipset and ITRI’s NR-NTN base station, with the signal relayed through Airbus-manufactured satellites to a gateway at ESA’s ESTEC facility in the Netherlands. Rohde & Schwarz supported the validation process by providing its CMX500-based NTN test suite to verify the performance of the connection.
This project aims to bridge the gap between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks. By adopting standardized 3GPP protocols, the partners intend to enable global interoperability for smart devices and IoT, potentially lowering access costs for satellite broadband. The trial serves as a technical milestone in the push to integrate space-based connectivity into mainstream mobile telecommunications.