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StatusOngoing
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Status date2025-10-14
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Activity Code3F.050
With 3GPP standardising satellite access for mobile phones (from Release 17 onwards), extra use cases are becoming possible with the 3GPP ecosystem. The scope of the study in this project, is to identify those use cases that are concrete non-terrestrial network (NTN) use cases, deployable in Europe within the next years, by assessing the market, deployment and technical readiness of each use case. Finally, the use cases are also ordered in a priority list from high-market attractiveness to low.
In the literature, hundreds of potential 3GPP NTN use cases are documented. However, not all of them are realistic candidates for a field deployed. Multiple factors need to be assessed to identify and prioritise the NTN use cases.
For three domains (market, deployment and technical) the readiness of the use case is assessed, in order to come to a market attractiveness score for the use case. The technical assessment includes a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) study for each use case per satellite constellation type.
The results of this study identify those NTN use cases that are ready to be deployed in a European context, starting today, together with those that are less relevant and/or will take a few more years to materialise. Included is the identification of the most appropriate satellite constellation (GEO, MEO, LEO, HAPS) for each use case.
The study concludes with a prioritised 3GPP NTN use case list from high-to-low market attractiveness, with market attractiveness defined as the aggregated market, deployment and technical readiness of the use case.
Next, the distribution of the prioritised use cases over the different market segments is documented, together with a heatmap on the best-suited satellite constellation type (GEO, MEO, LEO and HAPS) across all use cases.
The results allow to select the best NTN use case candidates for the potential next step of performing a field trial or POC (outside the scope of this project).
The main building blocks for a 3GPP NTN based Use Case service are shown in next functional diagram:
This high-level architecture is covering all the identified NTN use cases where the differentiation comes from the satellite constellation type (GEO/MEO/LEO/HAPS) and the satellite payload complexity (transparent, regenerative and intelligent), impacting the attractiveness of the use cases to be deployed. The other driving factors are the ecosystem availability and the complexity to bring the use case to the market.
The project covers only the development phase, with the final document delivery scheduled for the second half of June.
The activity was kicked off in March 2025 with the Mid-Term-Review (MTR) on 12 May 2025. The completed report was distributed for review to ESA on 22 June 2025.
