Ubiquitous Radio Access

ExpectedOutcome:

• Availability of 5G technology and systems economically deployable in low density environments or areas where economic coverage is challenging.
• Deeper integration of terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) towards easier operations of multi technology RAN implementations.
• Accelerate 5G deployment and address key societal challenges while creating new market opportunities for the terrestrial and satellite eco-system enabling service provision to vertical industries

Objective:

Please refer to the "Specific Challenges and Objectives" section for Stream A in the Work Programme, available under ‘Topic Conditions and Documents - Additional Documents’.

Scope:

• Provision of connectivity and service access in remote locations, with integration of terrestrial and NTN to provide ubiquitous wide-area wireless access. It covers concepts like native integration of the air and space borne components into beyond 5G systems.
• Highly consolidated NTN architectures such as standalone LEO/MEO/GEO platforms (or interconnected with a second tier) to prove the integration of high TRL NTN system into the 5G-advanced roadmap.
• Improvements of existing air-interfaces to provide ubiquitous connectivity in a heterogeneous environment, where users may access the network through terrestrial and non-terrestrial links, and a reconfigurable radio access network that can be dynamically adjusted to changing conditions and requirements, and ease the co-existence of different services.

This topic should address the improvements of RAN systems considering integrated non-terrestrial component for beyond 5G, and dynamic access methods (such as device to device (D2D)). Going beyond traditional geographical coverage, and reaching towards user-centric communications (e.g., cell-free systems), research is also expected towards the development of radio access management techniques exploring distributed ultra-massive antenna deployment (for both terrestrial and NTN), and addressing challenges such as spectrum re-use and co-existence, possibly incorporating novel AI/ML techniques to manage the complexity of such novel architectures.

The above topics listed in the scope represent the core focus of SNS-2022-STREAM-A-01-02, without precluding the potential inclusion of other related technologies still contributing to the listed Expected Outcomes.