Five organisations, the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), SKY Perfect JSAT (JSAT), TMY Technology, Inc. (TMYTEK), Rohde & Schwarz, and VIAVI Solutions (VIAVI)[1], have jointly developed a new 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite technology to advance mobile connectivity in remote locations. The research team conducted a live demonstration at the World Expo 2025 Singapore Pavilion in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the deployment of an end-to-end cross-country 5G new radio (NR) NTN. Guest-of-Honour witnessed the live demonstration, Mr Ong Eng Chuan, Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to Japan.At the live demonstration, a 5G signal was transmitted from an end user equipment (UE), such as a communication device, located in Singapore via a satellite antenna, to a geostationary (GEO) satellite operated by JSAT. This signal was then forwarded from the satellite to a ground station in JSAT, Japan, which connects to a 5G base station and 5G core network emulator, demonstrating the feasibility of communications between NTN and terrestrial networks (TN). This is the first such transmission between the two countries.
The live demonstration successfully showed that an existing GEO satellite can reliably support the 5G NR standards as defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which is a consortium that develops global standards for mobile telecommunications. Although current 5G deployments primarily rely on TN, upcoming 6G networks are expected to be a convergence of both TN and NTN to achieve global coverage and resilient connectivity. Today’s demonstration will lay the foundation for future extensions to medium earth orbit (MEO) and low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, as well as 6G converged TN and NTN.
Satellite operators, mobile network operators, equipment vendors, and end-user application providers need to be able to evaluate the performance of NTN networks and the traffic that runs across them. Rohde & Schwarz and VIAVI have developed an NTN digital twin testbed covering LEO, MEO, and GEO, and this was used in the testing and validation of the end-to-end connectivity and performance in the live demonstration.
Filed Under: 5G, Satellite Comms, Tools
