ESA SHINE

ESA SHINE: “Smart Handover for Integrated 5G non-terrestrial networks"

ESA ITT HANDOVER ENGINE AND TESTBED FOR SATELLITE-BASED 5G NON-TERRESTRIAL NETWORKS (NTNS)

Project Description:

Integrating satellite non-terrestrial (NTN) and terrestrial (TN) networks enables ubiquitous network access, requiring 5G user equipment (UE), such as handheld devices or vehicle devices, to connect to both networks directly. For terrestrial mobile network operators, the economics of providing ubiquitous coverage in their service area may not be viable when using traditional terrestrial means. With orbits near to Earth, low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have gained popularity as a viable alternative for low-latency, high capacity, and high-speed global internet provision compared with geostationary constellations. However, the 5G-NTN integration with TN is confronted by some technical and regulatory challenges (e.g. spectrum, standardization, link budget, etc).

This activity focuses on one particular technical challenge, which is the handover of UEs from different 5G-networks. 5G UE devices may need a handover between TN and NTN networks for 5G connections. Optimizing the number of handovers and the success rate of switching between networks is critical to minimize service interruption. Conventionally, handover can be triggered by signal strength measurements, location information, and other parameters such as elevation angle, Timing Advance (TA) values or Doppler values exceeding a predefined threshold. However, the handover decision is also impacted by the high mobility of UEs and satellites, strict Quality of Service (QoS) requirements such as reliability and latency, and the Quality of Experience (QoE) in terms of UE service satisfaction. Additionally, the different architecture between the NTN and TN networks, the changing communication environment, and the end-user requirements may lead the conventional handover to make late/early decisions and switch to the wrong network/cell. 

In this context, this activity investigates the benefits of applying Machine Learning (ML) solutions to aid the handover decision-making in satellite-based 5G-NTN.

Funding: This project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) ARTES 4.0 SPL 5G/6G

Project Duration: 24 months (on-going)

Consortium: University of Luxembourg - SnT (Prime), SES Luxembourg (partner)

ESA Website: https://connectivity.esa.int/projects/esa-shine-project 

Research Team:

• Dr Eva Lagunas (SnT) – PI

• Dr Tedros S. Abdu (SnT) - VPI

• Dr Flor Ortiz (SnT) 

• Dr. Marcele Kuhfuss (SnT)

• Dr. Ons Aouedi (SnT)

• Dr. Jorge Querol (SnT)