3GPP Non-Terrestrial Networks: Space-Ground Unified 5G & 6G Infrastructure
NonTerrestrialNetwork provides authoritative technical references for 3GPP Rel-17/18/19 satellite architectures, Direct-to-Device (D2D) integration, transparent vs regenerative transponders, and space-ground core routing.
NonTerrestrialNetwork System Architecture
Core architectural topology and protocol interaction of nonterrestrialnetwork.com
Central System: 3GPP NTN Core - Space-Ground System
Network Nodes
- NR-NTN S-Band
- Direct-to-Cell
- LEO gNodeB
- Optical ISL
- Q/V Feeder
Architectural Protocol Layers
- User & Terminal Access Layer (3GPP Rel-17/18 NR-NTN & IoT-NTN): Direct communication from smartphones and IoT sensors to satellites
- Space-Borne Radio Access (gNodeB / Transponder) (Regenerative Digital Payloads & Bent-Pipe Transparent Processing): In-orbit demodulation, digital beamforming, and spectrum channelization
- Inter-Satellite Mesh & Space Transport (Optical Inter-Satellite Links (OISL) & 60 GHz V-Band Cross-Links): Autonomous multi-hop laser packet routing in vacuum at the speed of light
- Ground Teleport & Core Cloud Ingress (High-Throughput Q/V-Band Gateways & Optical Ground Stations): Terabit feeder link downlinks connected directly to cloud hyperscalers
Key Metrics: 100 Gbps+ (Optical Cross-Link Bandwidth) | <25 ms (LEO Propagation Latency) | ±50 kHz (Doppler Shift Compensation) | 99.999% (Constellation Transport SLA)
Extending 5G NR and 6G Beyond Terrestrial Borders
Core Engineering Areas
Technical Articles