Improved Propagation Modeling for Non-Terrestrial Networks

Communications systems are increasingly demanding, in terms of throughput, latency, and security requirements. To combat this, a complex system of radio access networks, each with unique and dynamic performance characteristics has evolved to support modern communications. These advancements, however, bring new and interesting challenges when tuning the network to meet the specific requirements for each supported application data flow. Here, we propose two new developments to meet this challenge. First, analytical models that can accurately estimate network performance for a wide range of radio access technologies such as 5G Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial Networking (NTN) communications must be integrated into a single cohesive simulation environment. Second, these same models will be promoted from the simulation environment to the real world, and integrated into an advanced Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller to enable predictive network planning based on the current and estimated future state of the network. To date, the set of analytical models required to support defense network analysis has not been brought together into a single network simulation tool set, nor integrated into an SDN controller suitable for 5G terrestrial and NTN scenarios.