TAMPA, Fla. — Amid growing efforts to bridge satellites and mobile networks, Eutelsat said it has successfully employed its OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation to connect a broadband terminal with a core 5G network using next-generation smartphone protocols.
This was the first test leveraging a commercial Ku-band LEO constellation and a test chipset using Release 17 standards, set to be deployed in 5G smartphones in the coming years, Daniele Finocchiaro, Eutelsat’s head of R&D and technology roadmap, said Feb. 25.
“Prior tests have been in a lab, not with an active LEO network, or using an experimental satellite and laboratory equipment,” he said via email.
The tests used a MediaTek 5G chipset and a 5G base station from Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), both based in Taiwan, running a private network.
Many satellite operators today provide cellular backhaul services, linking cell towers to the internet and the rest of a mobile network via space-based networks.
These connections typically use an arbitrary telecoms protocol, such as DVB-S2X, to encapsulate and carry 5G signals over a satellite network.
“In our trial, this protocol itself was 5G,” Finocchiaro said.
“This opens the way to a smoother integration between terrestrial and satellite networks, as many components (both hardware and software) will be identical or very similar.”
Only a few non-terrestrial 5G tests have been performed to date, in LEO and geostationary orbit.
“The target was to demonstrate feasibility, so we do not have performance measures to share at this stage,” Finocchiaro added.
Announcing the networking test Feb. 24, Eutelsat chief engineering officer Arlen Kassighian noted that non-terrestrial 5G protocols will also be a key feature of IRIS², Europe’s multi-orbit sovereign broadband constellation slated to enter service by early 2031.
Eutelsat recently signed a contract to be the main architect and operator of IRIS²’s LEO segment.
Different paths to direct-to-device
While Eutelsat and others are working toward closer integration between satellites and next-generation terrestrial devices, other companies are taking a different approach to connect directly to unmodified smartphones already in circulation.
AST SpaceMobile, for example, is building large, high-power LEO satellites designed to use radiowaves from cellular partners, instead of satellite spectrum.
The company’s two U.S. partners, AT&T and Verizon, separately announced Feb. 25 they had used their spectrum to make video calls over an operational AST SpaceMobile spacecraft, following a similar announcement last year with Europe’s Vodafone using a prototype satellite.
