Connectivity Technology Blog

When we talk about Non-Terrestrial Networks, or NTN, the discussion usually focuses on satellites providing connectivity directly to users and devices. However, a short presentation from Airbus looked at a very different role for non-terrestrial infrastructure. Andres Catelo, Product Manager for Lasercomms Services & Ground Segment at Airbus Defence and Space, discussed how free-space optical communications could provide extremely high-capacity connectivity through satellites, aircraft and other platforms. The wider vision is to integrate these optical links with terrestrial fibre infrastructure and use them to support future 5G and 6G networks. Rather than replacing terrestrial networks, the idea is to add another high-capacity and highly adaptable layer above them. Airbus is exploring how non-terrestrial optical connectivity could support xhaul, connect network nodes, move traffic between data centres and provide additional routes when terrestrial infrastructure is unavailable or...

Traditional communication networks have largely been designed around a two dimensional view of the world. Base stations are deployed across cities and rural areas, creating coverage footprints that expand horizontally across the landscape. While this approach has supported the growth of mobile communications for decades, the increasing demand for connectivity everywhere is pushing the industry to rethink how networks are designed and operated. The concept of a three dimensional communication network is emerging as a response to this challenge. Instead of relying only on terrestrial infrastructure, future networks are expected to integrate connectivity layers that exist on the ground, in the air and in space. By combining these layers into a unified architecture, it becomes possible to provide seamless coverage across environments that are currently difficult to serve. A 3D communication network brings together several different types of platforms. Traditional ground based cellular netw...

China is increasingly asserting its presence in the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband arena, with two major constellation programmes, one state-backed and one commercially driven, now under active deployment. The government’s strategic plan for global communications infrastructure includes the Guowang network, targeting as many as 13,000 satellites, and the municipally supported Qianfan, also known as “Thousand Sails,” which aims for around 15,000 satellites. As of November 2025, Guowang has exceeded 100 satellites in orbit following a launch of nine satellites on 10 November. The Qianfan project, by contrast, has deployed around 90 satellites to date, a fraction of its target for regional coverage by the end of 2025. Both networks face significant challenges including manufacturing scale-up, launch cadence, orbital debris and regulatory timelines, yet their evolution has direct implications for the future architecture of global broadband, the integration of satellite and terre...

As mobile networks expand into new vertical domains, the low altitude economy (LAE) is emerging as one of the most promising frontiers for connectivity. In China and Hong Kong, this area is rapidly evolving with strong government support, early infrastructure deployments and growing commercial interest. It includes services and applications that operate in airspace typically below one thousand metres, covering everything from drone deliveries and infrastructure inspections to emergency response and environmental monitoring. The LAE is not just a collection of novel use cases. It represents a structural shift in how connectivity infrastructure is being designed and deployed. A layered approach is taking shape, combining reuse of existing terrestrial networks, new network deployments tailored for low altitude operation, and integration with non terrestrial networks such as satellites. Together, these networks are already delivering coverage up to 600 metres with end to end latency under...

At MWC 2025, NTT Docomo highlighted its latest initiatives under the NTT Group's "NTT C89" space-business strategy, such as mobile-connectivity services using unmanned vehicles, or high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), that fly in the stratosphere for days or months, using relays to provide mobile connectivity in mountainous and remote areas, including at sea and in the sky. A presentation on NTT C89 Aerospace Business Strategy is available here while a presentation on NTT DOCOMO's Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) for Extreme Coverage Extension is available here . Stratospheric connectivity, enabled by High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS), is emerging as a key solution for extending mobile coverage to remote and underserved areas. However, ensuring that these airborne platforms can provide stable, high-quality connectivity requires extensive testing and refinement. At MWC 2025, NTT Docomo showcased its progress in this domain, highlighting multiple real-world trials...

Back in November 2022, Peiying Zhu, Senior Vice President of Wireless Research at Huawei presented a talk at IEEE Comsoc ' Next Generation Multiple Access Emerging Technology Initiative ' discussing the potential new challenges, requirements, and opportunities for the next generation of multiple access in these new scenarios. As a Huawei Fellow, IEEE Fellow and Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering who is also currently leading 6G wireless research and standardization in Huawei, she is very well placed to talk about this. The overview of the talk is as follows: The discussion in this talk includes the potential new challenges, requirements, and opportunities for the next generation of multiple access in these new scenarios. The next generation of wireless communication networks requires continuous evolutions of multiple access (MA) techniques due to the demand for ubiquitous connections of everything besides humans. In the 5G system, many potential MA techniques have been ...

In previous posts we looked at how OneWeb is trying to implement 5G in their satellite networks from the start. In a recent talk at 5G Forum Korea, Massimiliano Ladovaz, CTO of OneWeb presented their Vision for LEO Satellites and 6G connectivity Any issues OneWeb was facing, are past problems , and in the last year they have not only sorted that out but also managed to make good progress with their launches.  Mission Success! We are thrilled to have ended the year with another successful launch, with contact received from all 36 satellites. We have now launched over 60% of our constellation! Thanks to all our team and distribution partners for a great year! https://t.co/jn9YhCSlJe pic.twitter.com/vue4UBQW4I — OneWeb (@OneWeb) December 27, 2021 Back in December , OneWeb successfully launched 36 satellites, bringing total in-orbit constellation to 394 satellites. They have now launched over 60 percent of their LEO satellite fleet that has been promised to deliver high-speed, l...

NTT Docomo and Airbus have demonstrated the ability to use Airbus's solar-powered Zephyr High Altitude Platform Station (HAPS) to deliver future wireless broadband connectivity. The trial took place in the United States in August, when the Zephyr S aircraft undertook approx. 18-day stratospheric flights to test various capabilities. We have covered many of the topics here, see related blog posts link at the bottom. A press release said: Carrying an onboard radio transmitter, the Zephyr S provided an agile datalink during a stratospheric flight to simulate future direct-to-device connectivity. Test data was captured at different altitudes and at different times of day and night, focusing on assessing how connectivity is affected in the stratosphere by factors including weather conditions, different elevation angles and aircraft flight patterns. Tests included various bandwidths to simulate direct-to-device service from the HAPS to end users using low, nominal and high throughput. T...

The last time we looked at 3GPP's plan for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) was over a year and half back. Since then the standards have made loads of progress, with features for 5G-Advanced, a.k.a. Release-18, just being discussed . In a recent blog post , Xingqin Lin, Master Researcher, radio at Ericsson presented a retrospective of their “Sky is Not the Limit” journey (see IEEE article here ) and an outlook of the next few years about connected drones. Quoting from the blog post: A journey began with 3GPP Rel-15 standardization In early 2016, we identified that one key area to study in the 3GPP Release 15 was to enable mobile network connected drones, based on our research work (some of which was later made public in the "Sky is Not the Limit" seminal paper). In December 2016, we submitted a new study item proposal on Enhanced LTE Support for Aerial Vehicles to the 3GPP RAN plenary meeting #74. The proposal attracted much interest, leading to the approval of the study ...

We wrote about  Futuristic Glass Antenna by NTT Docomo and AGC back in 2019. It's good to see the partnership continue with this new announcement about use of metasurface lens to enhance radio signal reception indoors.  Metamaterials is one of the focus areas of 6G as highlighted here . Samsung's 6G Vision whitepaper explains it as follows: A metamaterial is usually constructed by arranging multiple tunable elements (PIN diodes, varactor diodes, etc.) in repeating patterns, at scales that are smaller than the wavelengths. Its precise shape, geometry, size, orientation, and arrangement enable smart properties capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves, e.g., blocking, absorbing, enhancing, or bending waves, to achieve benefits that go beyond what is possible with conventional materials. In addition, each element constituting a metamaterial can be controlled independently to achieve desirable characteristics of the electromagnetic waves such as the direction of propagati...

While 5G rollout is gaining momentum, 6G is the new shiny object nowadays. Operators may still be struggling with finances and the ability to increase ARPU or revenues through 5G but that has not dampened the vendors and researchers appetite to start talking about 6G. Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), North American Organizational Partner for 3GPP and a leading technology and solutions development organization recently announced Next G Alliance to Advance North American Leadership in 6G. It has several operators and vendors as founding partners. In addition, 6G Symposium was held just last week bringing together vendors, researchers and though leaders in the mobile telecom networks to discuss the next evolution of mobile technology. While there is a lot of activity going on everywhere, 6G Flagship has been taking leadership role with the publication of many different whitepapers and even a magazine now. One of the whitepapers that has been published is about...

 A new 6G Research Visions Webinar took place on Wednesday 30 September 2020, presenting key findings by the Expert Group that prepared the 6G White Paper on Connectivity for Remote Areas. In the 90-minute webinar, representatives of the group gave talks on regulatory challenges, spectrum matters and wireless backhaul solutions for remote area connectivity. Talks by Expert Group representatives:  Alok Pandey, Indian Institute of Technology, India Brejesh Lall, Indian Institute of Technology, India Mohamed-Slim Alouini, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia Abdelaali Chaoub, National Institute of Posts and Telecommunications (INPT), Morocco Adrian Kliks, Poznan University of Technology, Poland The webinar was moderated by Dr. Harri Saarnisaari from University of Oulu who led the Expert Group.  The webinars are organized by the 6G Flagship program led by the University of Oulu, Finland and the 6G White Paper Expert Group which prepared the...

I remember first talking about LiFi back in 2011 , but since then things have come a long way. We discussed it being adopted by IEEE in a post couple of years back . IEEE 802.11 Light Communication (LC) TG which is working on 802.11 bb , is also called the Task Group "bb" (TGbb) and is focused on introducing necessary changes to the base IEEE 802.11 Stds to enable communications in the light medium. Lightbulbs are delivering ultra-high speed #broadband ! @ITU #LiFi standard is the first to enable high-speed indoor Visible Light Communication https://t.co/vWKSYrkTBP pic.twitter.com/YHPW7O7mm3 — ITU (@ITU) September 4, 2020 In another post last year, we discussed that even though a lot of terms like LiFi, VLC, etc., are used interchangeably, they all have subtle differences. Vodafone Deutschland and Signify (formerly Philips Lighting) announced that they are joining forces to interlink the two communication technologies 5G and LiFi, providing their customers wi...