5G is the next generation of wireless access technology that much of the world is moving towards. By supporting a world in which “anyone and anything will be connected at anytime and anywhere”, 5G is expected to enable new applications in various domains, including entertainment, health, automotive, transport and industry. The advanced communications of 5G are expected to bring enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable communications, and massive machine-type communications.This next generation network has been described as having significantly more capacity and higher user data rates than today’s capabilities, so as to meet the growing demands of users. In addition, an important goal of 5G is to provide increased resilience, continuity, and much higher resource efficiency including a significant decrease in energy consumption. Finally, security and privacy will need to be ensured to protect users and the important amounts of data that will be carried across the network.
Not only can satellites provide ubiquitous, anytime coverage, but they can provide cost-effective coverage to many areas of the globe, which might otherwise go unserved. Satellites are the only means to provide truly ubiquitous geographic coverage and mobility. This feature is critical to the successful deployment and operation of 5G: Providing wide coverage to complement and extend dense terrestrial cells; Satellites are inherently well suited to broadcast or multicast one-to-many transmission links, usually over long distances and large areas to multiple distribution hubs such as radio access points. Satellites can deliver very high data rate services in broadcast / multicast mode (e.g. data broadband connectivity and IP enabled video distribution via satellite) as well as in unicast mode.
