SKY Perfect JSAT, Singapore University of Technology and Design, TMY Technology from Taiwan, Rohde & Schwarz from Germany, and VIAVI Solutions from the US have formed an international joint research team and successfully demonstrated 5G NTN communication technology for non-terrestrial networks (NTN), which enables communication in areas where terrestrial networks cannot reach. The research team unveiled a live demo for the first time on Friday, May 23rd at the Singapore Pavilion at the Osaka-Kansai Expo.

In the live demo, a 5G signal was transmitted from a user terminal installed in Singapore, and then transmitted to a ground station in Japan via a geostationary orbit (GEO) satellite operated by SKY Perfect JSAT. This ground station was connected to a 5G base station and 5G network, and demonstrated communication between the terrestrial network (TN) and the non-terrestrial network (NTN). The results showed that existing GEO satellites are compatible with the 5G NR standard defined by 3GPP.
Current 5G networks are mainly built on terrestrial systems, but in the 6G era, networks will be able to connect from anywhere on the planet and will involve the integration of TN and NTN to build a robust communications infrastructure that will not be interrupted even in the event of a disaster.
The results of this live demonstration will serve as the foundation for future applications to non-geostationary orbit satellites (non-GEO) and the integration of TN and NTN in 6G.

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