5G New Radio Techniques for 3D Networks in Connection-critical Scenarios

The recent natural disasters, such as the Earthquake in Morocco in September 2023, have demonstrated one more time the necessity of immediately restoring lost connectivity to rescue victims living in rural villages that are far from urban areas. In such a framework, three-dimensional (3D) Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) are expected to provide continuous wireless coverage at low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), in disaster-hit and hotspot areas with the help of 5G New Radio (NR). This paper investigates the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) as transparent aerial networks that perform signal amplification and frequency conversion between a satellite-based 5G network and a User Equipment (UE) using five different frequency bands (i.e., S-band, C-band, X-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band) supporting the satellite communication. The applications of the proposed technology concern connection-critical scenarios like emergency rescue and digital divide mitigation. Results show that 180Mbps to 4.85Gbps throughput can be achieved on the satellite-to-UAV link. Simulated transmission delay and average session time are also evaluated considering a delay budget of 2ms. The related results discussion confirms the viability and effectiveness of the proposed approach in the concerned case of study.