Page 47 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2022

INTEGRATED NETWORK CONTROL ARCHITECTURE FOR TERRESTRIAL AND NON-
TERRESTRIAL NETWORK CONVERGENCE IN BEYOND 5G SYSTEMS

Ved P. Kafle; Mariko Sekiguchi; Hitoshi Asaeda; Hiroaki Harai

National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan

ABSTRACT and data networks, and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs)
such as satellites is essential in 5G and Beyond 5G (B5G)
To seamlessly cover urban and rural areas, mountains and systems [2].
deserts, as well as sea and air, with high quality ubiquitous
communication services, the convergence of Terrestrial TN and NTN convergence is required not only for covering
Networks (TNs) and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) such rural, remote, deserts, mountains, sea, and airspace by a
as satellites is essential in beyond 5G communication high-quality ubiquitous communication service but also
systems. This paper presents the scenarios and keeping the service intact when natural disasters (e.g.
architectures of integrated and individual network control earthquake, tsunami, forest fire and floods) hit the earth and
systems for TN and NTN convergence in the control plane. damage TN infrastructures. Thus, TN and NTN
The integrated network control system enables end-to-end convergence would enhance the robustness of
service design, orchestration, performance monitoring, communication systems and make them dependable for
closed-loop control, and automation. It promotes speedy public rescue and disaster risk reduction.
interoperability in the control plane of TN and NTN
domains composed of virtualization-supporting In this paper, we present a high-level architecture
infrastructures and possibly managed by different framework of integrated network control systems for the
organizations. This paper is related to ITU-T Study Group realization of TN and NTN convergence. Various segments
13’s activities of standardizing fixed, mobile and satellite of a TN such as wireless local area networks, cellular
convergence technologies. mobile networks, and data networks are already
interconnected by standard technologies. However, NTN
Keywords— Extended reality, integrated network control, components such as satellites are still working as isolated
interoperability, non-terrestrial networks, quality of communication systems. Satellites stationed at different
experience, terrestrial and non-terrestrial network altitudes such as Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO), Medium
convergence, Earth Orbit (MEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO), together
with recently deployed Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)
1. INTRODUCTION such as drones and High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS)
are going to be key components of NTN systems.
Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks, which are currently
being deployed worldwide, have the capability of Research and development of novel technologies enabling
connecting a massive number of devices and offering ultra- TNs and NTNs convergence has started recently in various
reliable, low latency, mobile broadband services over countries. However, there is no standard technology
sharable, virtualized communication and computational developed yet for the convergence and interoperability of
infrastructure [1]. They offer user-customized, high-quality TNs and NTNs. Therefore, various Standards Development
services required for emerging applications based on novel Organizations (SDOs) such as the International
rd
technologies of High Definition (HD) videos, Augmented Telecommunication Union (ITU), 3 Generation
Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality Partnership Project (3GPP), and European
(VR). However, 5G mobile network services are largely Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) have
confined to highly populated urban areas and cannot cover recently started studying the various issues of TN and NTN
100% of the globe because of economic and geographical convergence.
difficulties. The deployment of 5G cellular services in
remote and rural areas with a very low population density is The proposed integrated network control architecture is
not lucrative as it would result in unnecessarily higher costs expected to contribute to the convergence of TNs and
per user. Moreover, it is difficult to deploy 5G terrestrial NTNs in the control plane. It enables the design,
radio infrastructure in deserts and mountainous regions. orchestration, monitoring, and control of end-to-end
Therefore, to seamlessly cover urban and rural areas, network service across TN and NTN domains or segments,
mountains and deserts, as well as sea and air, the which may be composed of equipment produced by
convergence of Terrestrial Networks (TNs), such as cellular different manufacturers and operated by different

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