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September 13, 2022 | Interview with Sahana Raghunandan and Christian Rohde
Very often, there’s a big gap in understanding when it comes to the world of terrestrial mobile communications and the world of satellite communications. In our simulator, we bring both worlds together and demonstrate how the two system types are able to interact with and complement each other. Our simulator makes it possible, in particular, to characterize aspects such as coverage, throughput and interference.
Basically, it’s about modeling connections for different user equipment types, from handheld devices to cars and aircraft. These are provided with one or several data services – via satellite, terrestrial base stations or both. Each of the different services or applications comes with its own network requirements, necessitating individual evaluations. Our simulator does both.
Providing user equipment with additional coverage from the sky alleviates many of the limitations of terrestrial networks. For example, the latter offer limited coverage in remote areas or if the infrastructure is insufficient. It’s like an expansion from 2D to 3D connectivity. This enables various new scenarios such as multi-link connectivity and, as a result, enhances user-friendliness and security of coverage. The ultimate goal, of course, is across-the-board coverage and seamless connectivity. We evaluate all of these aspects in the simulation.
We decided to develop a user-friendly front end called SimAppWeb, which is easy to operate even in complex scenarios. It allows customers to configure and evaluate their own simulations. To this end, our Fraunhofer experts progam these scenarios in the back-end simulator using the OMNEST tool.
With this approach, customers know beforehand whether their planned connectivity scenarios are feasible. And they can easily evaluate which measures of performance, such as data rates, can be achieved. They can also pinpoint any overloads or compare different coexistence technologies. This way, customers not only get results, but also gain valuable experience.
System-level simulation for non-terrestrial 5G New Radio networks
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS