Satellite integration into 5G: Accent on first over-the-air tests of an edge node concept with integrated satellite backhaul

The 5G vision embraces a broad range of applications including the connectivity in underserved and remote areas. In particular, for these applications, satellites are going to play a role in future 5G networks to provide capacity on trains, vessels, aircraft, and for base stations around the globe. In this paper, a 5G edge node concept, developed and evaluated with over-the-air tests using satellites in the geostationary orbit, is presented. The article covers a testbed demonstration study in Europe with a large-scale testbed including satellites and the latest standardization for the network architecture. The main goal of this testbed is to evaluate how satellite networks can be best integrated within the convergent 5G environment. The over-the-air tests for 5G satellite integration in this article are based on a 3GPP Release 15 core network architecture.