Shipping company Worldwide wants to track and trace containers. In order to do so, it has installed a UE on the containers that can report location and other parameters (e.g. temperature in the container) to a central server.

Shipping company Worldwide has equipped the UEs with subscriptions of terrestrial operator TerrA. TerrA has roaming contracts with most terrestrial operators worldwide in order to enable shipping company Worldwide to track and trace containers wherever there is terrestrial coverage. As containers also travel in areas where there is no terrestrial coverage, shipping company Worldwide has ensured that the UEs on the containers are also equipped with satellite access capabilities. This implies that containers can e.g. be tracked when they are on-board of a ship on the ocean or are travelling by train/truck through remote areas without terrestrial network coverage. Operator TerrA recognises the importance of worldwide roaming and therefore also has established roaming agreements with satellite network operators such a SatA. The satellite access for the UEs on the containers requires direct line of sight. That is not always available (e.g. when a container is at the bottom of a stack on a container ship). Therefore, the UE on the container can connect to the network as a Remote UE, using the UE on another container with direct line of sight as Relay. Alternatively, the container ship provides one or more Relay UEs.

UE on the container has a subscription with TerrA. TerrA has roaming agreements with terrestrial operator TerrB and satellite operator SatA.

A container from Shipping company Worldwide is loaded onto a ship in Rotterdam harbour. The container is connected via network operator TerrA for tracking and tracing The ship leaves Rotterdam harbour and moves out of coverage of TerrA. The UE now selects the network of SatA to provide connectivity. When needed, the UE can use a Relay UE to connect to the SatA network. After a few weeks at sea, the ship approaches Shanghai harbour. Even though there is still network coverage from SatA, the network selection policy for the UE on the container indicates that the terrestrial network from TerrB is preferred. Therefore, the UE selects TerrB. After the container is unloaded from the ship, it is loaded onto a train. Whilst the train travels to its destination in China connectivity for tracking and tracing is provided by TerrB.

The UE has worldwide connectivity via terrestrial and/or satellite networks. Where there are both terrestrial and satellite networks available, it can select the optimal network.

[PR 5.1.5-001] [PR 5.1.5-002] [PR 5.1.5-003]

In Release 14, 3GPP has specified features to enable mobile network deliver television services in new and improved way. Television and content providers may directly provide their services over standardized interfaces. Among many enhancements to the system, highlights include e.g. greater radio broadcast range, free-to-air services and transparent mode delivery of digital video signals. Advances in Release 14 allow improved support for television services to both mobile devices and stationary TV sets over eMBMS (enhanced multimedia broadcast and multicast system over LTE) and unicast. Advances made include a standardized interface between mobile network operators and service providers used for media delivery and control, radio enhancements for improved broadcast support and system enhancements to allow delivery of free-to-air receive-only services. This approach can be extended to a satellite overlay, addressing not only video content but also any form of digital content that would need to be distributed towards several UEs taking into account the benefits of the large geographical coverage of satellite networks, with a stand-alone receive only mode, or as a complement to a two-way mode of operation.

Consider a use case where a mobile network operator (MNO) provides services over a radio coverage M. M mainly addresses urban and sub-urban areas. MNO has included in its service package the distribution of television channels or video streaming services. The demand for these distribution services is increasing steadily with the number of programs available, as well as with the quality of the content. This leads in some cases to the saturation of the transmission capabilities of MNO, yet UEs being subscribed to the service shall receive the corresponding content. A satellite network operator SNO provides services over a radio coverage S. S might includes M. S can also address UEs that are located beyond M. At any given time, UEs being subscribed to the services of MNO may be in the radio coverage a) M and S simultaneously, b) solely S or, c) solely M (e.g. indoor).

Content to be delivered to the UEs is broadcast over the satellite network SNO. UEs that are not within S (i.e. out of reach of SNO), but are within M (within the reach of MNO)are provided the content through the mobile network. UEs combine the data flows received either from the MNO or from the SNO.

MNO has maintained the QoS of the content delivery for UEs being subscribed to the content delivery service, while MNO has been able to cope with the increasing traffic on its infrastructure. MNO has offered an improved QoS of the content delivery for some UEs, without increasing unduly the traffic on its mobile network infrastructure.

None identified.

[PR 5.2.6-001] [PR 5.2.6-002]

A 5G satellite network can be based a constellation of one or multiple satellites. The satellites are placed in LEO to allow connectivity of UEs with limited RF and energy capabilities. The constellation of satellites may offer a continuous service, with a satellite covering any UE with a continuous global coverage. An IoT (Internet of Things) service provider delivers connectivity for its customers throughout a given area thanks to the access to the 5G system and several associated mobile networks and wishes to guarantee geographic coverage extension.The satellite component may provide:

• A 5G satellite access network to allow a radio coverage extension to the terrestrial networks.
• As a 5G satellite network, providing extension to other 5G terrestrial networks through a roaming agreement.

A fleet of vehicles transporting VIP's will be moving from Point A to Point B. The trip of the VIP's has been organised in a nice area in order to provide comfort and pleasure to each of the participants. The position of the vehicles transporting the VIP's has to be continuously reported automatically to a security officer. However, before the planning of this event the existing 5G terrestrial networks or technologies could not provide 100% continuous coverage. A LEO satellite network is available. The area of service of this satellite network includes the area of unavailability of the cellular networks where the VIPs will be transported.

UEs are placed on the vehicles with the VIP's. When within reach of a cellular network, UEs report position through this network. When within reach of the satellite network, but outside reach of a terrestrial network, UEs report position through this network.

The position of the VIPs is reported on a continuous basis to the security officer.

The 5G system shall define conditions to avoid instability of the offered Quality of services when switching from the 5G satellite access network to/and from the terrestrial access network.

[PR 5.3.6.001] [PR 5.3.6.002] [PR 5.3.6.003]

(A) network operator(s) ha(s) deployed 5G terrestrial RATs as part of the 5G system over a given geographical area. The geographical area may encompass several countries, and the infrastructure where the 5G terrestrial network is deployed includes RANs as well as CNs. A crisis occurs: a significant earthquake, a flood, or a war. Elements of the RATs are partially or completely destroyed. Accesses to the services that are normally delivered by the terrestrial network are not available anymore. At the same time, the crisis leads to a situation of urgency for the population, as well for the public institution in order to provide first aid support, and to restore security and to organise logistics support. Alice is a 5G field engineer. She is located in the area of the crisis, where she is deploying and maintaining 5G terrestrial infrastructures. Alice wants to be provided with support from remote HQ to help restore the 5G infrastructure. Bob is a Crisis Management Officer. He is in charge of a Search & Rescue team. He needs to interact with deployed and spread teams to coordinate actions: the search area goes beyond Device to Device (D2D) capabilities, or deployable on field capabilities for 5G terrestrial coverage.

(A) 5G satellite RAT(s) is also deployed with a radio coverage addressing the same geographical area. Alice and Bob are equipped with UEs with satellite access capabilities.

Alice and Bob have lost access to their nominal 5G terrestrial networks. A number of network operators with access to the satellite component grant access to their network with a minimum set of service (such as voice, messaging, mail) so as to provide to each UEs under the satellite coverage a guaranteed access. Public and professional users such as Alice are provided with a network slice that guarantees a certain percentage of the allowable traffic; a policy is put in place to adjust offer with respect to demand. Mission critical forces to which Bob belongs are provided another slice with another part of the allowable traffic so as to guarantee the support to their mission.

During a transition period, before restoration to a normal situation with their nominal 5G terrestrial networks,

• Alice has access to a minimum set of communication services.
• Bob has access to a minimum set of communication services to perform his duty.

For the purpose of mission critical services, the 5G system shall have the capability to enable connectivity through (a) 5G satellite RAT(s). For non-mission critical services, the 5G system shall have the capability to route some traffic through (a) 5G satellite RAT(s) to deliver a minimum set of services (such a voice, data traffic) for specific sets of users.

[PR 5.4.6.001] [PR 5.4.6.002]

Alice owns a factory to produce mechanical parts under Additive Layer Manufacturing processes. Thanks to an attractive financing scheme, Alice has installed a first factory FF in a rather remote area, the factory is at the edge of the radio coverage of a 5G terrestrial RAT, the performance of eMBB services can be somewhat limited at a certain time of the day. Alice has also installed a second factory SF, in a further remote area, with an even more interesting financing scheme, however there is no 5G terrestrial access network in this area. The factories are almost fully automated, with a minimum number of staff allocated to operations, maintenance and surveillance of the production. Each machine is being uploaded with ALM electronic files for the production of pieces to be manufactured. With the success of ALM processes, the complexity of ALM pieces and the volume of ALM electronic files have increased over time. For FF & SF, delays to transfer ALM files are increasing, saturating resources that could be used otherwise. Alice would like also to buy new machines to further automate its processes and command and monitor the machines from the remote HQ, with a requirement that video control and reactivity are mandatory.

FF & SF are placed under the radio coverage of a 5G satellite access network, If needed UEs located within the factory can access the satellite network through relay nodes being in direct visibility with the satellites.

Services are differentiated in the following with respect to unconstrained (or constrained) latency, when the use of the satellite route is acceptable (or not). The following flows can be offered for each of the factories:

The ALM files can be delivered to FF and SF. For FF the delivery of the files can also be performed without saturating communication services that can be used for other services that are more latency sensitive.

The 5G system shall be capable of combining available terrestrial and satellite networks to optimise the connectivity of UE in accordance with the requested QoS.

[PR 5.5.6.001] [PR 5.5.6.002]