Beyond fifth generation (5G) and sixth generation (6G) mobile networks aim to integrate Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), such as satellites, with Terrestrial Networks (TNs) to offer high quality global communication services worldwide. Standards development organizations, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), are advancing the standard specifications required for the TN-NTN integration, also known as Fixed, Mobile, and Satellite Convergence (FMSC). ITU has issued several ITU-T Recommendations for FMSC, including ITU-T Y.3207 (2024), which specifies an Integrated Network Control Architecture (INCA) for FMSC. This article presents a study on the design and development of an experimental system to validate the INCA's feasibility and capabilities. It covers the design and development of network controllers for both TN and NTN segments, and the functions and interfaces required for interconnecting them. The study demonstrates INCA's capability to configure network services with a required Quality of Service (QoS) across both TN and NTN segments. Furthermore, it validates INCA's capability to dynamically monitor and control computing and bandwidth resources in both TN and NTN segments to ensure end-to-end QoS despite fluctuation in network traffic demands.
Kafle et al. (Fri,) studied this question.