CCww, Lekha launch NTN IoT test bench with ESA

Communications Consultants Worldwide Limited (CCww), innovator of 3GPP® technologies and Lekha Wireless Solutions Pvt Ltd. (Lekha), a technology solutions company with expertise in communications and embedded systems, announce the creation of a test bench system for NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) IoT. This includes a UE protocol-stack + PHY combination and an eNodeB with integrated SDR.

Global IoT solutions require global coverage, made possible through satellites ‘filling-in’ where ground-based cellular IoT isn’t available. 3GPP® Release 17 will specify narrow-band protocols for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary (GEO) satellite communications. CCww and Lekha are re-purposing their joint Release 14 NB-IoT UE design, and Lekha’s eNB design; both systems will handle the higher levels of Doppler, noise and delay encountered in satellite communications. The NTN versions of UE and eNB, with a system manager and channel emulator, will be integrated to produce a software test bench, to allow testing of NTN IoT without major up-front investment.

The development is partly funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) within its Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Competitiveness & Growth programme.

The standard NB-IoT UE and eNB software stacks execute on Xilinx Zedboard and TI SoC respectively, and are available to license for development and test; services are offered for product development, integration and live test.

CCww’s CEO, Richard Carter, said, “having created a cellular NB-IoT UE with Lekha, it’s natural to collaborate to pioneer NTN IoT; whilst our designs will support the approved Release 17 and later releases, we will create an early system for lab-testing.”

Amarnadha Reddy, Founder Director of Lekha, added, “our experience in SDR enables us to characterise the propagation characteristics unique to satellite operation, and create the most efficient PHY for NTN operation.”

CT Bureau