[en] Technical advancements and experimental works
for the integration of 5G and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN)
have gained significant traction over the past few years. NTN
components have been officially included in the 5G ecosystem by
3GPP in the latest Release-17. 5G-NTN research is ongoing and it
is desirable to have a platform that facilitates quick prototyping
of the proof-of-concept methods. OpenAirInterface(OAI) is an
open-source experimental yet 3GPP standard-compliant Software
Defined Radio (SDR) based protocol stack that has been widely
known for implementing 4G/5G technologies. Due to its proven
capabilities and flexibility, OAI is currently in the developmental
process of integrating adaptations for the 5G-NTN. In this work,
we discuss the peculiar features of OAI which are shaping it
towards becoming a preferred tool for research and experimentation related to 5G-NTN. We provide details of completed/ongoing
5G-NTN projects leveraging OAI to achieve their objectives.
In particular, we discuss 5G-GOA and 5G-LEO where critical
adaptations in OAI are being done to support 5G-NTN usecases. Such adaptations enable direct-access between UE and
gNB via transparent payload Geostationary (5G-GOA) and Nongeostationary satellites (5G-LEO). Both projects have closely
followed 3GPP discussions over 5G-NTN and the adaptations
are compliant with the currently frozen 3GPP Release-17. OAI
adaptations from both projects will be merged into the main
development branch of OAI. We also provide a future roadmap
of OAI towards 5G-NTN development. We believe that the
pioneering steps taken in the course of the aforementioned
projects will establish OAI as a preferred tool for 5G-NTN
research and experimentations.
Research center :
- Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) > SIGCOM - Signal Processing & Communications
Disciplines :
Electrical & electronics engineering
Author, co-author :
Kumar, Sumit ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > SigCom
Meshram, Ashish Kumar ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > SigCom
Abdalla, Abdelrahman ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > SigCom
Querol, Jorge ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > SigCom
Chatzinotas, Symeon ; University of Luxembourg > Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SNT) > SigCom
Schlichter, Thomas; Fraunhofer IIS, Germany
Casati, Guido; Fraunhofer IIS, Germany
Heyn, Thomas; Fraunhofer IIS, Germany
Volk, Florian; University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany
Schwarz, Robert T.; University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany
Knopp, Andreas; University of the Bundeswehr Munich, Germany
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