TapTechNews October 6th news, the 2024 Satellite Internet Technology and Industry Development Forum was held in Beijing at the end of September, and Ye Yang, a senior engineer from China Unicom Research Institute, attended the conference and gave a keynote speech.
Ye Yang mentioned that the satellite communication ground station of China Unicom can be traced back to the 1970s. After more than 50 years of development, it has now formed an all-business guarantee ability including data, voice, video, and the Internet. On this basis, China Unicom jointly carried out the NRNTN (non-terrestrial network) low-earth orbit in-orbit experiment with partners.
Ye Yang introduced that this experiment adopted the international standard protocol (3GPP NRNTN R17 standard) and the direct connection standard frequency band of mobile phones (Ka to L frequency band). Using the Little Spider Web low-earth orbit test satellite of Galaxy Aerospace, according to the frequency conversion + 3GPP NTN transparent forwarding networking mode, the direct connection of NRNTN terminals to satellite broadband communication was achieved, verifying the end-to-end comprehensive service ability of the terminal directly connected to the low-earth orbit satellite under the 5 MHz bandwidth.
The in-orbit experiment started in November 2023 and successfully achieved the data and VoNR business process penetration based on Galaxy Aerospace's AP03 satellite.
Ye Yang said that China Unicom has completed the first NRNTN low-earth orbit in-orbit experiment of domestic operators, opened up the in-orbit end-to-end data business, and the rate can be compared to that of ground 4G terminals. Within a single cycle of the satellite passing by, the terminal can maintain a stable business traffic for a continuous duration of up to 3 minutes, with a maximum downlink rate of 11 Mbps (TapTechNews note: 1.375 MB/s) and an uplink rate of 4 Mbps (0.5 MB/s); it achieved VoNR satellite calls, and during the call, the MOS remained above 4 points and reached up to 4.5 points, which met the expected requirements and reached the call quality requirements of the ground mobile communication system.
Ye Yang emphasized that the landing of the direct mobile phone connection business requires further improvement of the satellite, base station/core network, and terminal capabilities, deepening the satellite-ground coordination, aiming at the landing of business scenarios, and conducting systematic key technology research and development in coordination with the satellite industry, the ground mobile communication industry, and the terminal industry to open up key blocking points and achieve end-to-end full-process penetration.