Description
Market demands are evolving as more data-intensive services are set to be widely deployed, requiring new technologies, business models and levels of cooperation.
The Satellite industry will need to meet these evolving requirements in order to maximize opportunities and become an active player across the range of vertical sectors considered in the deployment of 5G, such as e-health, energy, and transportation (incorporating all transport users such as cars, buses/trams, road users, trucks, flying taxis, and airplanes). Infuture, satellite networks will likely form an element of a much larger telecommunications infrastructure system, i.e. the anticipated increased integration with terrestrial networks under the development of 5G. End to end communication services will be configured using a range of different solutions dependent on the specific communications needs of the end consumer; data-rate, Quality of Service, latency, geographic coverage, access technology, etc.
The configurations and solutions provided will need to be much more dynamic than existing services and will need to adapt to user needs as they constantly evolve across variable timescales. E.g. changes in economic conditions and the roll-out of new applications and services (longer-term) versus networks created for specific events ordiurnal usage patterns (short-term) potentially evolving to even shorter timeframe usage. The emergence of Virtual Network Operators to commission specific communications services based on customer demands will be a consequence of this new environment and impliesa change in the interfaces and direct customers for satellite operators. This dynamic re-configurability requirement will have a significant impact on the operation of satellite networks, given the relatively static nature of satellite capacity configurations at present.
An Automated approach will need to developed to satellite network operations to allow new services and networks to be commissioned and adapted automatically in response to end user needs. This will require a change in the commercial and business relationships between satellite operators and their (new) customers as a degree of access, and even control, of satellite resources will berequired that is currently not allowed for.
This activity therefore aims to:
a. define the cross-industry cooperation opportunities offered to the satellite communication industry when considering the convergence of Satcom with the 5G terrestrial business/solution/technology/operational concepts for the different verticals sectors,
b. identify the associated conditions, operational approaches, development roadmaps and resources necessary for the satellite industry to be able to address these opportunities.
An essential element for the efficient implementation of this activity is the strong interaction between senior experts and strategic advisors within the vertical sectors and their technological solutions providers, their associations' representatives and the corresponding actors of the Satcom industry.
The Contractor shall involve the Agency representatives during this interaction, e.g. workshops, to allow the review of intermediate results against the objectives of the agreed targets. The results of this study will be used by the Agency in view of the preparation of support technology development programs and pre-deployment large-scale initiatives.