MSSA Technical Documents
MSS Reference Architecture
Version 2.0
Executive Summary
As Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) deployments accelerate, operators and industry stakeholders are facing new architectural and service delivery challenges.
The Mobile Satellite Services Association’s MSS Reference Architecture 2.0 expands on its original framework with new guidance on regenerative satellite payloads and support for both 5G New Radio (NR) and NB-IoT services within a common satellite infrastructure.
This updated document provides recommendations to help the industry address emerging architectural requirements while advancing open and interoperable NTN solutions.
What You'll Learn:
- How regenerative satellite payloads are transforming NTN architectures to improve system efficiency, autonomy, and resilience, and how to evaluate the trade-offs these architectures introduce for performance, power consumption, and network design.
- How a single satellite constellation can support both 5G NR and NB-IoT services, including the challenges of balancing bandwidth, coverage, resource utilization, and diverse service requirements across multiple radio access technologies.
- How to evaluate key architectural trade-offs for scalable and interoperable NTN systems, including Radio Unit (RU) sharing approaches, regenerative implementation options, and considerations for integration between terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks.
What's New in Version 2.0
Building on the original framework, MSSA’s MSS Reference Architecture 2.0 adds:
- New guidance on regenerative satellite payloads
- Guidance on supporting both 5G NR and NB-IoT services within a common satellite infrastructure
- Radio Unit (RU) sharing approaches for running multiple radio access technologies on a common payload
- New recommendations and structural improvements to support interoperability and ease of use
Looking for the previous edition? Access Version 1.0 (Archived) for historical reference.
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