A hybrid beamforming design for massive MIMO LEO satellite communications

TL;DR

This paper proposes a hybrid beamforming design for LEO satellite communications integrated with 5G, focusing on codebook design and simulation to address technical challenges in satellite-ground links.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hybrid beamforming approach for LEO SatCom compatible with 5G NR, emphasizing codebook design and realistic simulation for satellite-ground links.

Findings

Insights into analog codebook design challenges

Requirements for antenna terminals to achieve target SNR

Analysis of beam reconfiguration capabilities

Abstract

5G and future cellular networks intend to incorporate low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems (SatCom) to solve the coverage and availability problems that cannot be addressed by satellite-based or ground-based infrastructure alone. This integration of terrestrial and non terrestrial networks poses many technical challenges which need to be identified and addressed. To this aim, we design and simulate the downlink of a LEO SatCom compatible with 5G NR, with a special focus on the design of the beamforming codebook at the satellite side. The performance of this approach is evaluated for the link between a LEO satellite and a mobile terminal in the Ku band, assuming a realistic channel model and commercial antenna array designs, both at the satellite and the terminal. Simulation results provide insights on open research challenges related to analog codebook design and hybrid beamforming strategies, requirements of the antenna terminals to provide a given SNR, or required beam reconfiguration capabilities among others.