{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]],"date-time":"2025-12-29T11:42:50Z","timestamp":1767008570745,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,23]],"date-time":"2021-06-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1624406400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technologies are considered key technologies for terrestrial 5G massive machine-type communications (mMTC) applications. It is less known that NOMA techniques were pioneered about ten years ago in the satellite domain to match the growing demand for mMTC services. This paper presents the key features of the first NOMA-based satellite network, presenting not only the underlying technical solutions and measured performance but also the related deployment over the Eutelsat satellite fleet. In particular, we describe the specific ground segment developments for the user terminals and the gateway station. It is shown that the developed solution, based on an Enhanced Spread ALOHA random access technique, achieves an unprecedented throughput, scalability and service cost and is well matched to several mMTC satellite use cases. The ongoing R&amp;D lines covering both the ground segment capabilities enhancement and the extension to satellite on-board packet demodulation are also outlined. These pioneering NOMA satellite technology developments and in-the-field deployments open up the possibility of developing and exploiting 5G mMTC satellite- and terrestrial-based systems in a synergic and interoperable architecture.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21134290","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,23]],"date-time":"2021-06-23T11:28:41Z","timestamp":1624447721000},"page":"4290","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Is Satellite Ahead of Terrestrial in Deploying NOMA for Massive Machine-Type Communications?"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Antonio","family":"Arcidiacono","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"European Broadcasting Union (EBU), L\u2019Ancienne-Route 17A, 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex, Switzerland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daniele","family":"Finocchiaro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Eutelsat, 32 boulevard Gallieni, 92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux, France"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4948-7599","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Riccardo","family":"De Gaudenzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, P.O. Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Oscar","family":"del Rio-Herrero","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, P.O. Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5766-8015","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefano","family":"Cioni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"European Space Agency (ESA), European Space Research and Technology Centre, Keplerlaan 1, P.O. Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marco","family":"Andrenacci","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MBI SrL, Via Francesco Squartini, 7, 56121 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Riccardo","family":"Andreotti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"MBI SrL, Via Francesco Squartini, 7, 56121 Pisa, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) (2018). Study on Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) for NR, 3GPP Support Office. 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