An Empirical Analysis of Multi-Connectivity between 5G Terrestrial and LEO Satellite Networks

Integrating Terrestrial Networks (TN) and Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) is crucial to providing fifth generation (5G) ubiquitous coverage and exploiting the potential of connectivity-based solutions. This article presents an initial empirical evaluation of both broadband satellite and terrestrial cellular connectivity solutions. End-to-end latency, Packet Error Rate (PER), and uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) throughput statistics are obtained using a SpaceX Starlink satellite antenna terminal connected to the Starlink satellite network and a multiband 5G New Radio (NR) modem connected over a public 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) network. Furthermore, we study how the maximum end-to-end latency can be reduced by using multi-connectivity between terrestrial and LEO satellite networks. Results suggest that the integration of terrestrial and NTN is a competitive solution to fill the existing coverage gaps and provide seamless service to low-latency and high throughput requiring applications.