The ETHER workshop with the members of the External Expert Advisory Board provided a comprehensive update on the project’s progress, focusing on the latest advancements and achievements within its four technical work packages (WP2, WP3, WP4, and WP5). The event, which took place on 20 February 2025, detailed how these work packages align with the project’s overarching goals and presenting significant insights into ETHER’s development. 

Screenshot of the virtual EEAB Meeting

Each of the four technical WPs presented their activities, mapping their objectives to the broader goals of ETHER. The discussions covered crucial aspects such as the ETHER architecture definition and its performance evaluation, project challenges, key innovations, performance indicators (KPIs), a technoeconomic analysis alongside its business plan, and the experimentation activities concerning the 3 ETHER use cases. 

The workshop highlighted the three ETHER use cases: 

  • Use Case 1: Service provision to delay-tolerant IoT applications. 
  • Use Case 2: Broadband direct handheld device access at the Ka band. 
  • Use Case 3: Air-space safety-critical operations. 

Firstly, the ETHER 3D architecture was presented in the context of WP2,  

Subsequently, a deep dive into the key technological enablers, deployed under WP3, showcased their role in enabling seamless and energy-efficient ETHER network operations. This included extensive discussions on the innovations and the latest results. 

The presentation also addressed the zero-touch, data-driven network and service orchestration within ETHER’s 3D architecture, which ensures seamless service provision as part of WP4. The session detailed the innovative approach and promising results achieved so far. 

The workshop concluded with the demonstrations of ETHER technologies, in the context of WP5, offering tangible proof of concepts for key project components: 

  • Demo 1: Flexible Payload-Enabled Service Provisioning to Semantics-Aware and Delay-Tolerant IoT Applications (Lead: I2CAT) – This demo showcased advancements in software-defined regenerative satellite payload architectures, demonstrating dynamic reconfiguration capabilities for flexible service provisioning. 
  • Demo 2: Unified RAN for Direct Handheld Device Access at the Ka Band (Lead: University of Luxembourg) - This demonstration highlighted direct handheld device access at the Ka band, leveraging device antenna designs and intelligent algorithms for seamless vertical handover between terrestrial and non-terrestrial radio access technologies (RATs). 
  • Demo 3: Airspace Safety-Critical Operations (Lead: Collins Aerospace) – This demo presented the vision of a hybrid, multi-layered ETHER network that integrates terrestrial, high-altitude platform station (HAPS), and space-based components to support airspace safety-critical operations. 

The External Expert Advisory Board members, Joel Grotz (SES Satellites) and Maria Guta (European Space Agency), expressed their compliments to the ETHER team for their significant progress and recognized the relevance and impact of the project’s use cases and demonstrations. They praised the project’s direction and outcomes, emphasizing their importance for future network advancements. 

For those eager to learn more about ETHER’s innovations and live demonstrations, join us at EuCNC 2025 in Poznań, 3-6 June 2025.