my country's first 5G satellite radio interface international standard has made significant progress

The 51st plenary meeting of Working Group 2 of the International Telecommunication Union's Radiocommunication Study Group 4 (ITU-R SG4 WP 4B) was held from May 9 to 12, 2022. More than 100 representatives from countries such as China, the United States, Russia, France, Brazil, South Korea, Japan, and companies such as Ericsson, Inmarsat, and Thales attended the meeting.

At this meeting, the main part of the IMT-2020 satellite radio interface international standard report, which was initiated by China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (hereinafter referred to as "CAICT") and jointly initiated by China Information Technology Mobile, China Satcom, Huawei, ZTE and other units, has been completed. The standard name is determined as "IMT-2020 Satellite Radio Interface Vision and Requirements Report (Report ITU-R M. [SAT-IMT2020.VISION & REQUIREMENTS] ： Vision and Requirements for Satellite Radio Interface of IMT-2020)", which marks a major breakthrough in the international standardization of 5G satellites. The research report is expected to be completed in 2022 and submitted to the SG4 plenary meeting for review. At the same time, ITU will issue a circular letter to the public to start soliciting candidate technologies for IMT-2020 satellites. ITU plans to evaluate the candidate technologies received in 2024 and complete the standard recommendation for 5G satellite radio interfaces in 2025.

The IMT-2020 Satellite Radio Interface Vision and Requirements Standard Report specifies the three major application scenarios of the 5G satellite part: eMBB-s (Enhanced Mobile Broadband-Satellite), mMTC-s (massive Machine-Type Communications-Satellite), and HRC-s (High Reliability Communications-Satellite). In order to meet the needs of diverse application scenarios, the key performance indicators of the 5G satellite part are more diversified. Currently, thirteen key performance indicators are defined, including rate, spectrum efficiency, latency, traffic density, reliability, mobility, and bandwidth. In addition, this standard also specifies the evaluation criteria and methods for evaluating candidate technologies, and points out the direction for formulating detailed specification recommendations on the radio interface of the 5G satellite part.

According to ITU regulations, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile communication systems all include ground and satellite parts. In the past 30 years, the industry has attached great importance to the ground part and has made great achievements. As the demand for global coverage and integration of space and land has become increasingly prominent, the satellite part of the mobile communication system has also gradually received attention from the industry.

The integration of ground 5G and satellite communication systems is mainly carried out in the ITU-R SG4 WP 4B's Next Generation Satellite Access Technology (NGAT) topic. CAICT took the lead and actively carried out research on this topic in cooperation with China Information Technology Mobile, China Satcom, Huawei and ZTE. In order to promote the internationalization of my country's 5G satellite communication standardization work, CAICT actively laid out in the ITU-R WP 4B working group, steadily promoted the relevant work of 5G satellite standardization, and strived to gain the right to speak in the international standard of 5G satellite field.

China Academy of Information and Communications Technology has submitted relevant documents since the 49th meeting of ITU-R WP 4B in February 2021, promoting the research on IMT-2020 satellite radio interface technical standards. In order to ensure the smooth progress of 5G satellite standard work, at the meeting in July 2021, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology submitted a project proposal on the IMT-2020 satellite radio interface vision and requirements report on behalf of my country. After several rounds of debates with representatives from the United States, South Korea and other countries, the meeting finally passed the project proposal proposed by my country and used the vision and requirements report work document submitted by my country as the standard baseline.

About ITU-R SG4 WP 4B

ITU (International Telecommunication Union) is one of the three major international standardization organizations. ITU-R is the ITU Radio Communication Sector, which is an organization under the management of ITU that specializes in formulating international standards related to radio communications. Managing international radio spectrum and satellite orbit resources is the core work of ITU-R. ITU-R SG4 is the Satellite Services Study Group, which includes three working groups: WP 4A, 4B and 4C. WP 4B is responsible for studying the systems, radio interfaces, performance and availability objectives of fixed satellite services (FSS), broadcasting satellite services (BSS) and mobile satellite services (MSS).