On November 6, 2025, 5G-STARDUST landed once again in Berlin, Germany, on the occasion ot the 5th NTN Workshop: the now well established ecosystem event co-organised by our partner Fraunhofer FOKUS – within their premises – with the collaboration of European Space Agency (ESA) and Eurescom.
Sponsorship and talks
The event saw us as supporters, alongside fellow Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) project ETHER, which enticed a showcase for our Proof of Concept demo in a dedicated exhibition area – and dedicated sessions, coinciding with the event’s breaks – but our representatives’ presence was also prominent onstage, over the dense one-day schedule.
The programme not only featured 5G-STARDUST’s Project Coordinator Tomaso de Cola – of German Aerospace Center (DLR) – talking about how Artificial Intelligence is boosting Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) to the next level – but also Piotr Gawłowicz (Software Radio Systems) and Alessandro Guidotti (CNIT – Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni), covering present and future challenges in a dedicated afternoon slot.
The available presentations of our partners can be browsed on this website, in the dedicated section.
The Proof of Concept demo
The demo presented in the workshop’s exhibition area – with Fraunhofer FOKUS’ Hemant Zope expertly walking interested visitors through it – revolved around the NTN-TN backhaul connections: the scenario showed an end-to-end core network switching, in a transparent fashion, between TN and NTN links, tapping into better capacity and lower latency to bridge in case of issues.
Here below, a video walkthrough of the demonstration, for a deep dive:
The Event
Building on the progress from interoperability toward full unification of terrestrial and satellite communication ecosystems, the 5th NTN Workshop brings together mobile and satellite network operators, integrators, technology providers, and academia in a collaborative setting to present and openly discuss the evolution of the Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) domain.
With 3GPP 6G standardisation now underway, this moment in time marks a decisive turning point, as, for the first time, NTN communication is fully embedded in the standardisation process from the get-go. The workshop is usually structured around key presentations, expert panels, and live demonstrations, highlighting the roles of newly available laboratory infrastructure, space assets, and cost-effective testbeds as foundations for experimentation and validation. As a recognised industry forum, the NTN Workshop focuses on unification by bridging Terrestrial and Non-Terrestrial sectors and harnessing the momentum created by 6G and O-RAN standardisation to shape new ecosystems and accelerate cross-industry convergence.
Congratulations and thanks again to all organisers of this successful event: The 5G-STARDUST consortium partners hope to be a part of it next year, in any capacity, even after the project’s end.