The 5G-ALLSTAR project receives funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 EU-Korea programme under grant n. 815323 and is supported by the Institute for Information & communications Technology Promotion (IITP) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT No. 2018-0-00175, 5G AgiLe and fLexible integration of SaTellite And cellulaR).
Abstract
5G Communication Networks are today at the stage of maturity of developing key enabling technologies for extended proof-of-concepts (PoC). Although standardization of 5G is yet to be finalized, 5G players already reached a general agreement on key enabling technologies, architecture and deployment scenarios of 5G networks. The 5G community is now looking for translating 5G use cases, vertical industries requirements and ambitions in adopting 5G, into viable business cases. However, the support of 5G new services and seamless connectivity across various vertical industries and very diverse use cases, still requires the integration of multiple access technologies. The 5G-ALLSTAR project builds on the outcomes and the cooperation experience of 5GCHAMPION to design, develop, evaluate and trial multi-connectivity based on multiple access, combining cellular and satellite access technologies to support seamless reliable and ubiquitous broadband services. The project will develop a set of technologies and validate system interoperability to provide global connectivity and support mission critical applications of interest in both European and Korean regions. To this end, 5G-ALLSTAR will develop selected technologies targeting a set of PoCs to validate and demonstrate in heterogeneous real setup:
- 5G cellular mmWave access system for providing broadband and low-latency 5G services,
- new radio based feasibility of satellite access for providing broadband and reliable 5G services,
- multi-connectivity support based on cellular and satellite access,
- spectrum sharing between cellular and satellite access.
In addition, the project will actively contribute to
- global 5G standardization including 3GPP and ETSI focusing on multi-RAT interoperability and New Radio based satellite access,
- creation of a cross-regional lasting synergy for 5G research, innovation and commercialization through value proposition assessment for vertical industries.
Objective
Leveraging 5GCHAMPION project outcomes, the 5G-ALLSTAR project aims at demonstrating multiple access comprising terrestrial and satellite links, which are key to ensure the availability of 5G performances and worldwide continuity of services especially to support critical applications.
Novel 5G key building blocks will be developed and implemented into a multiple access architectural approach ensuring end-to-end system performance encompassing innovative 5G radio-access, core-network and satellite technologies. 5G-ALLSTAR targets the following KPIs in any deployment context:
- Minimum 50 Mbit/s User experienced data rate in areas beyond dense urban areas in relation to 5GPPP targets (note that ITU-R M2410 specifies 100 Mbit/s – Downlink, 50 Mbit/s – Uplink but in dense urban areas)
- Average spectral efficiency of 3.3 bit/s/Hz in DL and 1.6 bit/s/Hz in UL in rural areas (see ITU-R M2410)
- Perceived 10 ms low latency for high quality of experience over multiple access with unbalanced latency between the access links. Actually < 10 ms user plane latency should be ensured for latency sensitive traffic
- 99.999% Reliability (success probability of transmitting a layer 2/3 packet within a maximum time)
- Contribution to 5G global standardisation on the multi connectivity, the multiple-access scheme and satellite friendly New Radio features as part of 3GPP release 16 and beyond
- Demonstrate the affordability of multiple-access scheme for mission critical applications and for Bridging the Digital Divide through Business case assessment
- Creating a long lasting EU-Korea synergy for 5G research, innovation and commercialization
In addition, the project will analyse and validate optimal spectrum sharing and interoperability techniques between cellular and satellite access technologies controlled by the same 5G radio access network.
Structure
Given the vertical research angle and the scope of the objectives, the project will run for 36 months. The scheduled work for 5G-ALLSTAR is divided into six work packages (WPs) addressing different research pillars and objectives of the project as described in the following.
| WP1 Project management | WP2 Scenarios for multiple access in 5G | WP3 Spectrum sharing | WP4 Multi-connectivity | WP5 Prototyping, validation and demonstration | WP6 Promotion |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1.1: Administrative project management | T2.1: Vision and use cases with multiple access/multi-connectivity | T3.1: Spectrum usage analysis and channel modeling | T4.1: Multi-connectivity onto the 5G network architecture | T5.1: European PoC testbed | T6.1: Dissemination | |||||
| T1.2: Technical & quality management | T2.2: Architectural framework for multiple access/multi-connectivity | T3.2: Interference analysis of shared spectrum | T4.2: Multi-RAT load balancing algorithms design and simulation | T5.2: Korean PoC testbeds for 5G cellular and satellite access | T6.2: Standardisation | |||||
| T1.3: Impact management and planning of future collaborations | T2.3: Service scenarios/applications and KPIs for PoCs | T3.3: Algorithms and techniques for interference management | T4.3: Multi-RAT load balancing algorithms for PoC demonstration | T5.3: Korean PoC system for multi-connectivity | T6.3: Exploitation | |||||
| T2.4: Business assessment for vertical markets empowerment | T3.4: Interference mitigation through RRM | T5.4: System level testing of PoC phase 1 and phase 2 |
Work Packages
WP1 Project Management (Leader: CEA / ETRI)
WP1 will undertake all project coordination activities, interfacing with the European Commission (EC), day-to-day project coordination, contract and financial management, quality control and knowledge management, and participation in 5GPPP Infrastructure Meetings.
Future collaboration between the EU and Korea and quality management is another focus of this WP. A tight integration with other 5G projects activities in both Europe and Korea shall be ensured.
The main outputs of the work package are the project handbook, a general overview of the project progress, and 5GPPP joint activities.
WP2 Scenarios for Multiple access in 5G (Leader: GEM / ETRI)
WP2 will identify the scenarios and business, operational and technical requirements associated to the multiple access scheme cellular + satellite in the context of 5G. WP2 will also develop the business models and carry out a techno-economic analysis for the 5G-ALLSTAR scenarios.
The main output of the work package are the 5G-ALLSTAR scenarios, a traffic analysis, business models, and techno-economic analysis.
WP3 Spectrum Sharing (Leader: CEA / ETRI)
WP3 will provide the design and implementation of spectrum harmonization among the different systems. WP3 will also carry out the interference management between same/different access technologies, e.g., between cellular and satellite links, between cellular links, and so on.
A prerequisite for these activities are the implementation and further refinements of channel models for satellite links.
The main output of the work package are the spectrum usage model, inter-access technologies, interference characterisation, interference mitigation development and evaluation.
WP4 Multi Connectivity (Leader: CRAT / ETRI)
WP4 will investigate and develop advanced solutions for aggregating and splitting/steering traffic at PDCP layer and above, in order to maximize resource exploitation and, at the same time, to provide robust and QoS/QoE guaranteeing integration between heterogeneous link types, (e.g., between cellular and satellite links) or between heterogeneous access networks (e.g., between 3GPP and non-3GPP access networks).
The main output of the work package are link aggregation/traffic steering schemes among RATs, performance evaluations w.r.t data rate and latency associated to the aggregated links.
WP5 Prototyping, Validation and Demonstration (Leader: TAS / ETRI)
WP5 will develop lab test beds and trials to validate the feasibility of mmWave-based 5G access network capable of providing broadband and low-latency 5G services and the multi-connectivity technology showing its feasibility of providing ubiquitous and zero-interruption connection WP5 will also provide a Proof-of-Concept with standalone and integrated prototypes implemented and demonstrated at a key event.
The main output of the work package are local and inter-region demonstrations.
WP6 Promotion (Leader: FhG/ KATECH)
WP6 will coordinate outputs from all WPs to disseminate the project outcomes and contribute towards standardisation in 3GPP and possibly ETSI. Additionally, an exploitation plan of the project results will be put in place.
The main output of the work package are standardization, dissemination activities and an exploitation plan.
Advisory Board
The advisory board shall be formed by key stakeholders in the area of 5G and satellite communications. Hence, we are grateful to have members from the European Space Agency (ESA), the Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), Renault Software Lab, and Vitrociset on our board.