Integrated 5G satellite-terrestrial systems: Use cases for road safety and autonomous ships

In this article, we describe an integrated satellite-terrestrial system for 5G and beyond. The focus of this paper is to describe the system architecture, define the most important technological advances, and specifically look at challenges and solutions for road safety and maritime communications. Selected use cases represent areas where both satellite and terrestrial systems have important roles in fulfilling the reliability, capacity, and latency needs, enabling location awareness and transmission of critical information between different entities. The most potential frequency bands are described, including the 5G pioneer band 24.25-27.5 GHz where spectrum sharing techniques will most probably be used to enable both satellite and terrestrial transmissions. We will discuss how database-assisted sharing could be used for efficient use of the radio spectrum.