The growing low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have become an essential part of the fifth-generation (5G) non-terrestrial network (NTN) market. These satellites can enable direct-to-cell connectivity for mobile devices and support various applications with ubiquitous coverage for 5G and beyond networks. However, satellite-based NTNs bring several challenges to the 5G handover protocol design. The high mobility of satellites can lead to signaling storms and security compromises during handovers. This paper addresses these challenges by proposing a secure and efficient group handover protocol. The protocol's effectiveness is evaluated on a custom discrete-event simulator and compared against the baseline 5G handover scheme. The simulator is made publicly available.

翻译：不断增长的低地球轨道（LEO）卫星星座已成为第五代（5G）非地面网络（NTN）市场的重要组成部分。这些卫星能够实现移动设备的直接到小区连接，并以泛在覆盖能力支持5G及未来网络的各类应用。然而，基于卫星的NTN给5G切换协议设计带来了多项挑战。卫星的高机动性可能导致切换过程中的信令风暴和安全漏洞。本文通过提出一种安全高效的群组切换协议来应对这些挑战。该协议的有效性在自定义离散事件模拟器上进行了评估，并与基线5G切换方案进行了对比。该模拟器已公开提供。