Systems and methods for support of a 5g satellite radio access technology

A user equipment (UE) configured to support satellite wireless access, comprising:

• a satellite transceiver configured to communicate with satellites;
• at least one memory;
• and
• at least one processor coupled to the satellite transceiver and the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to:
• obtain information that defines each of one or more virtual cells or virtual tracking areas or both as a respective fixed geographic area located within wireless coverage of a first satellite and associated with one or more public land mobile networks (PLMNs), at least one of the one or more virtual cells or the virtual tracking areas being outside radio coverage of any terrestrial base station, by receiving broadcast data from the first satellite, wherein the broadcast data includes the information;
• obtain a position of the UE;
• enable a determination of a serving virtual cell or a virtual tracking area in which the UE is located, the determination based on the obtained position of the UE and the information;
• and
• perform, via the first satellite and a serving satellite Radio Access Network (RAN) node (SRN) communicatively coupled with the first satellite, a registration of the UE with at least one of the one or more PLMNs, based at least in part on the determined serving virtual cell or virtual tracking area.

A user equipment (UE) configured to support satellite wireless access, comprising:

• means for obtaining information that defines each of one or more virtual cells or virtual tracking areas or both as a respective fixed geographic area located within wireless coverage of a first satellite and associated with one or more public land mobile networks (PLMNs), at least one of the one or more virtual cells or the virtual tracking areas being outside radio coverage of any terrestrial base station, by receiving broadcast data from the first satellite, wherein the broadcast data includes the information;
• means for obtaining a position of the UE;
• means for enabling a determination of a serving virtual cell or a virtual tracking area in which the UE is located, the determination based on the obtained position of the UE and the information;
• and
• means for performing, via the first satellite and a serving satellite Radio Access Network (RAN) node (SRN) communicatively coupled with the first satellite, a registration of the UE with at least one of the one or more PLMNs, based at least in part on the determined serving virtual cell or virtual tracking area.

A non-transitory storage medium including program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) to support satellite wireless access and comprising:

• program code to obtain information that defines each of one or more virtual cells or virtual tracking areas or both as a respective fixed geographic area located within wireless coverage of a first satellite and associated with one or more public land mobile networks (PLMNs), at least one of the one or more virtual cells or the virtual tracking areas being outside radio coverage of any terrestrial base station, by receiving broadcast data from the first satellite, wherein the broadcast data includes the information;
• program code to obtain a position of the UE;
• program code to enable a determination of a serving virtual cell or a virtual tracking area in which the UE is located, the determination based on the obtained position of the UE and the information;
• and
• program code to perform, via the first satellite and a serving satellite Radio Access Network (RAN) node (SRN) communicatively coupled with the first satellite, a
• registration of the UE with at least one of the one or more PLMNs, based at least in part on the determined serving virtual cell or virtual tracking area.