Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN): The Next 20 Years -- Prof. Halim Yanikomeroglu, 04 June 2020

Carleton University Wireless Seminar Series
Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN): The Next 20 Years
Halim Yanikomeroglu
Professor, Systems and Computer Engineering
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Thursday, 04 June 2020
The roots of today’s wireless access architecture (the terrestrial 4G & 5G cellular networks) go back to 1940s. The access architecture has evolved substantially over the decades. However, rapid developments in a number of domains outside telecommunications, including those in satellite, aerospace, and automotive industries as well as in artificial intelligence, will likely result in a disruptive transformation in wireless access networks in the next 20 years.
In this talk, an ultra-agile, dynamic, distributed, and highly-autonomous vertical heterogeneous network (VHetNet) architecture with very low earth orbit satellites (VLEOs), high altitude platform stations (HAPS), and UAV-BSs, tightly integrated with the ever-evolving terrestrial network, for almost-ubiquitous super-connectivity will be presented. In this disruptive setting, free-space optical (FSO) communications will play an important role in addition to the legacy radio communications.
In the absence of a clear technology roadmap, the talk has, to a certain extent, an exploratory view point to stimulate further thinking and creativity in ICT research and innovation.