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The Interview

Take another example from the terrestrial network components energy needed to provide service
aeronautical industry, where aircraft operate independently, but in a certain coverage area when
need to carry different antennas, supporting mobility between the two there’s little or no traffic. In the first
different modems and so on to components. With 6G, in contrast, case, smart routing techniques may
switch between one satellite system integrated operation of both NTN be developed taking into account
to another. That’s a lot of extra and TN (terrestrial networks) could energy cost associated to the
weight for the plane at the expense enable optimized resource usage. transport of bits. And secondly one
of passenger seating. And each time may consider turning off cells at the
you need to install new terminal expense of others, considering the
equipment, that aircraft is grounded “ 6G should be energy/coverage ratio.
for some time at considerable cost. seen as an evolution
So all these industries are calling out
for standards and for interoperability. of 5G rather than “ For the past
a disruptive
What’s the distinction between technology. seven years my
the way NTN is implemented in role has been to
5G and 6G? define new satellite

Ubiquitous coverage is one of the Putting it another way, NTN in 5G is network solutions.
key IMT-2030 (6G) requirements, really about service and terminal level
whereas service extension was just integration, with the same user device
a ‘nice to have’ feature in 5G. It supporting NTN and TN capabilities. What is your own company’s
has taken some time for the mobile 6G takes this a stage further: it’s involvement in NTN?
industry to fully appreciate that about deep operational integration
satellite is not a competitor, but an between NTN and TN at the network Thales Alenia Space is a global space
important complement. infrastructure level. However it’s manufacturer, delivering solutions
important to note that 6G should be
“ With 6G, in seen as an evolution of 5G rather than Earth Observation, environmental
for telecommunications, navigation,
a disruptive technology.
management, exploration, science and
contrast, integrated
orbital infrastructures. For the past
Sustainability is a central
operation of both
new satellite network solutions.
NTN and TN could part of the 6G story. What seven years my role has been to define
contribution can NTN make?
enable optimized Energy efficiency is becoming a big We’ve been instrumental in creating
this standard because we want to
resource usage. design consideration for satellite open up new market opportunities
systems, as it is for 6G and indeed for the integration of satellite with
for all industries. There’s a lot of terrestrial networks. We also believe
Right from the start in 3GPP, there’s investigation going on in this area, that this can help defragment
been an opportunity to design and we believe that satellite may broadband and mobile satellite
the radio interface and the system also contribute to a certain extent market niches.
architecture to take into account optimizing energy consumption with
the requirements and constraints 6G in specific cases. Furthermore, we see more intelligence
associated with NTN and related use coming on board the satellite, and
cases. NTN has been added on top There are two different aspects of that’s where standards are beneficial.
of the existing 5G system, whereas it sustainability. There’s the energy If you’re designing equipment for on-
could be a native network component required to transport a bitstream board processing that’s compatible
of 6G. In 5G, terrestrial and non- of information. Then a further with a standard, then you can drive
consideration is minimizing the down the cost of that satellite.

6 Enjoy! The ETSI Mag – August 2024