A method for communication processing is performed by a terminal, and includes: obtaining measurement information of an adjacent satellite beam footprint of a satellite beam footprint to which the terminal currently belongs; and measuring a reference signal of the adjacent satellite beam footprint based on the measurement information.

A method is performed by a wireless device. The method includes receiving, from a network, an indication for the wireless device to prepare for a change from a first ground station to a second ground station. Each of the first ground station and the second ground station is configured to communicate with the wireless device via one or more satellites. The method further includes preparing to change from the first ground station to the second ground station. The method further includes communicating with the second ground station via the one or more satellites.

Systems and methods for supporting more flexible coverage areas and spatial capacity assignments using satellite communications systems are disclosed. A hub-spoke, bent-pipe satellite communications system includes: terminals; gateways; a controller for specifying data for controlling satellite operations in accordance with a frame definition including timeslots for a frame and defining an allocation of capacity between forward and return traffic. The satellite communications system may employ a satellite with a feed array assembly and may use on-board beamforming or ground-based beamforming. Beam hopping within timeslots of the frame may be used to provide coverage to different cells in different time periods. The flexible coverage areas may be provided using changes in satellite position, antenna patterns, or beam resource allocations.

A control method and a control device in a heterogeneous three-dimensional hierarchical network, and a communication system are provided. The control method includes: obtaining a coverage mode of a terminal; when the coverage mode is single-layered sub-network coverage, setting a non-ground mobile communication sub-network or a ground mobile communication sub-network corresponding to the single-layered sub-network coverage to be in a standalone operating mode or an intra-layer carrier aggregation mode; and when the coverage mode is multi-layered sub-network coverage, setting the non-ground mobile communication sub-network corresponding to the multi-layered sub-network coverage, or the ground mobile communication sub-network and the non-ground mobile communication sub-network corresponding to the multi-layered sub-network coverage, to be in a cross-layer carrier aggregation mode. The ground mobile communication sub-network and the non-ground mobile communication sub-network use a same or unified radio access technology.

Systems and methods for facilitating handover reduction in satellite systems are disclosed. A system may include a processor and a memory storing instructions, which when executed by the processor, may cause the processor to detect a user terminal that is selected for a handover procedure. The handover procedure may facilitate a switch from a source beam to a target beam. Based on input data, the processor may evaluate an ideal time value pertaining to a pre-defined time instance at which a scheduled handover is to be performed. The scheduled handover may correspond to at least one of a scheduled change in operating frequency within same beam or a scheduled feeder link handover due to a change in gateway communicating with the satellite. Based on the evaluation and the input data, the processor may estimate an optimized time value that pertains to an optimized time instance associated with an expected handover reduction.

A mobile station provided in a satellite communication network comprised of multiple orbiting satellites, wherein the mobile station includes a transceiver that is capable of communication with each of the multiple orbiting satellites, the communication comprising an uplink communication channel and a downlink communication channel, a memory storing data and executable program instructions, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and to the memory, the processor configured to execute the executable program instructions to manage satellite communication handover by performing the steps of maintaining a current communication link between the mobile station and a first orbiting satellite of the multiple orbiting satellites if a signal quality of the current communication link is greater than a first signal quality threshold, identifying at least a second orbiting satellite and a third orbiting satellite of the multiple orbiting satellites as handover candidates based on a relative position of the mobile station to the multiple orbiting satellites, wherein a relative distance of the mobile station to the second orbiting satellite is less than a relative distance of the mobile station to the third orbiting satellite, handing over communication of the mobile station to the third orbiting satellite if the signal quality of the current communication link is not greater than the first signal quality threshold and if a projected signal quality of a communication link between the mobile station and the third orbiting satellite is greater than a second signal quality threshold, and handing over communication of the mobile station to the second orbiting satellite if the signal quality of the current communication link is not greater than the first signal quality threshold and if the projected signal quality of a communication link between the mobile station and the third orbiting satellite is not greater than a second signal quality threshold and if a projected signal quality of a communication link between the mobile station and the second orbiting satellite is greater than a third signal quality threshold.

A method for performing a handover operation includes using one or more processors of a non-terrestrial node to initiate communication with a first terrestrial node of a network, the terrestrial node having a first unique node identifier and a cell identifier and store a mapping that associates the first unique node identifier with the cell identifier. The method also includes using the one or more processors to receive an indicator that the mapping is subject to change and update the mapping to associate a second unique node identifier of a second terrestrial node of the network with the cell identifier based on the received indicator.

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for wireless communication via a non-terrestrial network (NTN). In one aspect, a method for wireless communication includes initiating, by a user equipment (UE), a registration process with a network entity of an NTN to access the NTN. The method further includes transmitting, by the UE to the network entity, UE capability information of the UE. Other aspects and features are also claimed and described.

The disclosed method for a communication satellite may include (1) simultaneously generating a first transmission beam to a first ground station and a second transmission beam to each of a plurality of second ground stations in sequence according to a schedule, (2) simultaneously receiving a third transmission beam from the first ground station and a fourth transmission beam from each of the second ground stations in sequence according to the schedule, (3) forwarding first data received via the third transmission beam to each of the second ground stations via the second transmission beam, and (4) forwarding second data received via the fourth transmission beam from each of the second ground stations to the first ground station via the first transmission beam. Various other methods and systems are also disclosed.

A framework for a 6.sup.th generation (6G) ubiquitous wireless communications network is provided. A system comprises: a memory that stores executable instructions; and a processor, coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the executable instructions to perform operations. The operations comprise: obtaining first information associated with a first condition of a terrestrial radio network of terrestrial radio networks from a terrestrial controller that collects the first information from the terrestrial radio networks; determining second information associated with a resource of a satellite network, wherein the satellite network is integrated with the terrestrial radio networks to form an integrated network to which a mobile device connects, wherein a defined application is alternatively executable at the mobile device via any of a group of networks, the group comprising the satellite network and the terrestrial radio networks; and determining whether to re-assign the defined application from the terrestrial radio network to the satellite network based on a result of evaluating at least the first condition.