New study to identify innovative technologies and techniques for Satellite Communications beyond 5G networks launched
To maintain Europe’s leadership in the definition and development of 3GPP-defined network solutions and prepare for the next-generation of satellite networks beyond the 5G non-terrestrial networks standard, a need for significant innovation breakthrough in technologies, techniques, and architectures have been identified.
Responding to this need, leading experts in terrestrial and satellite scenes have just launched EAGER. Funded by the European Space Agency, the project will identify novel solutions for Satellite Communications (SatCom), targeting highly efficient and deeply integrated satellite networks for beyond 5G and 6G cellular systems. Partners involved in EAGER have a clear strategy to build on and advance the existing innovations. Starting from the updates of 3GPP release 17 which defined the first global standard for SatCom and specified the features enabling 4G/5G systems supporting a satellite component, the consortium will evaluate the performance/feasibility benchmark. Subsequently, a technical gap analysis will be performed, including solutions partially or fully discarded within 3GPP release 18. By achieving its objectives, EAGER will pave the way for the use cases, technologies, and techniques that will constitute the heart of Europe’s 6G satellite communications.
The EAGER team
The EAGER project is powered by a multidisciplinary team of European experts in space technology, mobile communications, and SatCom systems. The partners including Thales Alenia Space – JV between Thales 67% and Leonardo 33% (Italia and France) – Magister Solutions, and Martel Innovate will work jointly for the next 15 months under the leadership of the University of Bologna. You can find more about our partners here.
The collaboration officially started during the virtual kick-off meeting held on May 2, 2022. With all members highly
motivated, EAGER is now looking forward to producing the roadmap for beyond 5G satellite systems to increase the technology maturity of the most promising solutions in the domain.