Access, mobility management and regulatory services are supported for satellite access to a Fifth Generation (5G) core network. A coverage area, e.g., country, region, multiple countries, and international areas, are divided into fixed virtual cells having well defined geographic boundaries and fixed tracking areas. Information for the virtual cells and/or tracking areas and associated with one or more public land mobile networks (PLMNs) may be provided to a user equipment (UE). The UE may obtain its position, e.g., using a satellite positioning system, and determine the serving virtual cell or tracking area in which it is located. The UE may perform registration with a serving core network in a serving PLMN associated with the serving virtual cell or tracking area. Regulatory services, such as emergency (EM) calls, lawful interception (LI), wireless emergency alerts (WEA) may be provided based on the serving virtual cell or tracking area.

The disclosure relates in some aspects to forbidden area procedures and connection release management for a user terminal (UT). Forbidden area-related procedures include, for example, using a special paging area code (PAC) in conjunction with a forbidden area, defining a location reporting threshold for a UT based on the proximity of the UT to a forbidden area, or using a default paging area code if a service restriction for a UT has ended. Connection release management includes, for example, a UT sending a request to cause the release of a Radio Connection that the UT no longer needs, or a UT sending a Location Indication (e.g., including a flag requesting release of a connection) to release the connection used for location reporting when a UT is done sending the location information and is going to go back to idle mode.

A communication system includes communication units onboard a vehicle system. A first unit receives satellite positioning data and correction data based on phase measurements of satellite signals. A second unit receives the satellite positioning data. One or more processors determine a first geographical position of the first unit based on the position correction data and the satellite positioning data. The processors communicate the position correction data or a copy thereof to the second unit. The processors determine second geographical position data of the second unit based on the position correction data and the satellite positioning data. The one or more processors communicate the second geographical position data that is determined to the first communication unit.

Provided is technology for processing demodulation, preprocessing, etc., performed by an existing modem in a hardware form for satellite information received by a ground station at a cloud level based on a software define radio (SDR) mounted to a cloud. A cloud-based satellite information receiving and processing apparatus may include a satellite information collector configured to collect, on a cloud, satellite information received from a satellite by a ground station terminal using at least one antenna; a signal processing unit configured to perform demodulation and preprocessing of the collected satellite information on the cloud based on a software define radio (SDR) mounted to the cloud; and a storage configured to record and maintain the demodulated and preprocessed satellite information on the cloud.

A wireless device, receives, from a non-terrestrial network (NTN) node, a geographical zone configuration parameter. The wireless device determines a first zone identity of the wireless device based on the geographical zone configuration parameter and a first geographical location of the wireless device. The wireless device sends, to an access and mobility management function (AMF), a first registration request message indicating the first zone identity. The wireless device sends, to the AMF, a second registration request message indicating a second zone identity.

Devices, methods, and systems for uplink synchronization in time division multiple access (TDMA) satellite network. In one embodiment, an earth-based satellite terminal is configured to communicate with a satellite hub through a satellite using the TDMA communication protocol. The earth-based satellite terminal is configured to determine its own location, a location of the satellite, estimate a distance between the location of the terminal and the location of the satellite, determine a Coarse Timing Advance based on the distance that is estimated, and transmit data to the satellite based on the Coarse Timing Advance and the TDMA communication protocol. The Coarse Timing Advance may allow uplink TDMA communication without a preamble transmission on a random access channel, the preamble transmission being required in many conventional systems.

A method of determining geographic positions of a head of train (HOT) unit and an end of train (EOT) unit of a train includes receiving, by the HOT, first satellite radio position data and position correction data; determining, by the HOT, a first geographic location of the HOT based on the first satellite radio position data and the position correction data received by the HOT; receiving, by the EOT, second satellite radio position data; receiving, by the EOT from the HOT via a communication link, a copy of the position correction data received by the HOT; determining, by the EOT, a second geographic location of the EOT based on the second satellite radio position data and the position correction data received by the EOT; and receiving, by the HOT from the EOT, a copy of second geographic location of the EOT.

The disclosure relates in some aspects to managing paging area information for a user terminal (UT) and connection signaling. In some aspects, paging area information is provided for an idle UT by defining a default paging area code (PAC) that is known by the network and the UT. In some aspects, paging area information is communicated via connection signaling. In some aspects, connection signaling may be used to force a UT to invoke an update procedure (e.g., a reconnection).

The disclosure relates in some aspects to location reporting and paging for satellite communication. In one aspect, the disclosure relates to a user terminal (UT) sending a message to report information about the UT's location. A threshold may be used to control whether (e.g., when) the UT reports its location. The location information may be used to enforce area (e.g., country) restrictions for the UT. In one aspect, the disclosure relates to forwarding paging messages between network access controllers. For example, a network access controller that is not able to page a UT may forward a paging message to another network access controller. In one aspect, the disclosure relates to a list of paging areas that indicates where a UT need not perform a paging area update.

A method performed by a network node (160) includes serving a cell area by a first physical network node for a first time duration. The first physical network node uses an identifier of a logical network node. For a second time duration, the cell area is served by a second physical network node. The second physical network node uses the identifier of the logical network node. The first physical network node serves the cell area with a first frequency band and the second physical network node serves the cell area with a second frequency band.