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StatusOngoing
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Status date2025-10-20
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Activity Code3F.019
The objective of the activity is to develop and test a system simulator testbed capable of modelling and assessing the performance of communication satellite constellations operating in very low Earth orbit (VLEO). This includes the assessment of the emerging waveforms (5G NTN).
The main challenges will be the simulation of a type of constellation not commonly used. In particular the low altitude requires an increment of the number of satellites to be simulated in the testbed, requiring an higher computation effort.
The develop of a simulator that works in VLEO orbits will permit to exploit in a better way these types of constellations. VLEO constellations are desirable due to the low power required and of the lower latency granted. These will be a crucial point to integrate the space segment with the terrestrial network. Moreover, the testbed will be enough flexible to grant the definition of the antenna size, the require RF power and the development of customised communication payloads within ESA Member States.
The system simulator will be developed using C++ programming language via implementing several sub-modules such as 5G protocol, RRM, traffic analysis. Each module will ensure all the KPIs and required QoS are satisfied. Furthermore, current system simulator development exploits a quite advanced heritage tool which is developed one of the companies in consortium that has already achieved Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4.
System will be composed 1024 VLEO satellites at 400-kilometre (km) altitude which are distributed into 48 different orbital planes. Each satellites will have either transparent or more advanced payloads such as regenerative, digital etc. Ground stations and user terminals will be the key element of ground segment which will be implemented to the simulator. Communication links are established with ISL or ESL. Depending on use cases (broadband or narrowband), 5G NR or 5G NB-IoT are chosen as communication protocols.
The project had the KO in March, the next first milestone will be the SRR in September. From that milestone the team will start the activities related to the preliminary testbed development. The next milestone will be in February 2026 with a PDR from which the development activities will start. The third milestone will be the CDR on November 2026 fixing the critical design and the breadboard. The final milestone will be the FR on the 27 March 2025 with the contract closure documentation.
The project has started in March and currently we are under the definition of the System Scenarios, defining the use cases and end-user requirements.
