NB-IoT synchronization procedure analysis

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), recognizing the importance of IoT, introduced a number of key features to supporting it since Release 13. In particular, since 2017 the so called NB-IoT has been launched, providing progressively improved support for Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). While terrestrial technologies will play a key role in the provision of the NB-IoT service, satellite networks can have a complementary role thanks to their very wide coverage area and short service deployment time. Within the aforementioned framework, the aim of this thesis is to analyze the feasibility of integrating the NB-IoT technology with satellite communication (SatCom) systems, focusing in particular in the assessment of the downlink synchronization procedure in the NB-IoT SatCom systems. For this reason, this work investigates the issues introduced by the integration between the NB-IoT terrestrial network and Non Terrestrial Networks (NTN). Furthermore, in order to find possible solutions to harmonize their coexistence, the state of the art of the satellite channel effect mitigation techniques is analyzed. After that, the implementation of a MATLAB simulator for the cell synchronization procedure is presented, as a first step for the understanding of the whole NB-IoT procedures.