{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T12:14:33Z","timestamp":1771935273173,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771891200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"EU Horizon Europe","award":["101060881"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101060881"]}]},{"name":"EU Digital Europe","award":["101195295"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["101195295"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Network"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Limited terrestrial network coverage in rural and remote areas constitutes a significant barrier to the digital transformation of the agricultural sector. Smart and precision farming applications, ranging from conventional environmental monitoring systems to advanced Digital Twin solutions, rely on the reliable transmission of sensor data, images, and video streams from geographically isolated farms. Such data-intensive services cannot be effectively supported without a robust communication infrastructure. Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs), particularly satellite systems, offer both narrowband and broadband connectivity, enabling the transmission of low-rate sensor measurements, as well as high-throughput multimedia data from the field. This paper presents an experimental performance evaluation of two satellite backhauling solutions: a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) system provided by SES and a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) system from Starlink. The networks were first deployed and tested in a laboratory environment and subsequently validated in an operational agricultural field setting. Their performance is benchmarked against a terrestrial cellular network to assess their suitability for supporting advanced agricultural applications. The performance assessment results indicate that both satellite backhauling solutions are reliable and capable of meeting the bandwidth and latency requirements of delay-tolerant agricultural applications. In addition to the technical evaluation, this work presents a cost\u2013benefit analysis that further underscores the advantages of NTN-based solutions. Despite higher initial expenditures, they provide extended coverage in remote areas and enable cost sharing across multiple users, improving overall economic viability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/network6010012","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T10:14:44Z","timestamp":1771928084000},"page":"12","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Satellite Backhaul for Extending Connectivity in Rural Remote Areas: Deployment and Performance Assessment"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2776-5137","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Souhaima","family":"Stiri","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4945-1406","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Rita","family":"Palattella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), 4362 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Juan David","family":"Niebles Castano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SES TechCom SA, 6815 Betzdorf, Luxembourg"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Christos","family":"Politis","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"SES TechCom SA, 6815 Betzdorf, Luxembourg"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"437","DOI":"10.1109\/JIOT.2021.3126825","article-title":"Integrated Satellite-Terrestrial Networks Toward 6G: Architectures, Applications, and Challenges","volume":"9","author":"Zhu","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Internet Things J."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cabrera-Castellanos, D.F., Arag\u00f3n-Zavala, A., and Casta\u00f1\u00f3n-\u00c1vila, G. (2021). Closing Connectivity Gap: An Overview of Mobile Coverage Solutions for Not-Spots in Rural Zones. Sensors, 21.","DOI":"10.20944\/preprints202110.0072.v1"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31523","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2024.3368503","article-title":"Handover strategies for emerging LEO, MEO, and HEO satellite networks","volume":"12","author":"Voicu","year":"2024","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139368","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2024.3465512","article-title":"Rapidly Deployable Satellite-Based Emergency Communications Infrastructure","volume":"12","author":"Kagai","year":"2024","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chan, C.C., Al Homssi, B., and Al-Hourani, A. (2022). Performance Evaluation of Random Access Methods for IoT-over-Satellite. 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