Abstract: Focusing on non-terrestrial networks with transparent satellites, a handover scheme is proposed, which triggers handover based on ephemeris information and selects handover link based on multi-decision indicators. In addition, handover procedure for practical implementation is designed and the performance of different handover schemes is evaluated through system simulation. Results show that compared with the handover schemes based on the maximum satellite elevation angle, the longest satellite coverage time and the longest link existing time, our proposal can effectively reduce the number of inter-gNB handover, thereby reducing signaling overhead and raising handover success rate.

Key words: non-terrestrial networks, transparent satellites, link handover, handover procedure design