Table 3.

Pros and cons of the identified integrated solutions.

	Role of
Solution	IoT Device	UAV	Satellite	Sat.Gateway	Pros	Cons
Figure 2	not 5G oriented	5G-UE	RN	RN (or 5G-gNB)	simpler IoT devices and simpler bent-pipe 5G-agnostic satellites as the ones already available and deployed; 5G-gNBs’ complexity in the terrestrial segment’s nodes, which do not have strict resource constraints.	IoT devices not able to get direct access to the 5G network; more complex UAVs with high energy consumption due to protocol conversion.
Figure 3	not 5G oriented	5G-UE	RN	RN	simpler IoT devices and simpler bent-pipe 5G-agnostic satellites as the ones already available and deployed; 5G-gNBs’ complexity in the terrestrial segment’s, nodes which do not have strict resource constraints; better management of the 5G cell resources thanks to the 5G-gNB’s location closer to the edge of the network and the lower communication delay between 5G-UE and 5G-gNB.	IoT devices not able to get direct access to the 5G network; more complex UAVs with high energy consumption due to protocol conversion.
Figure 4	not 5G oriented	5G-UE	5G-gNB	RN	simpler IoT devices; regenerative satellites able to deploy 5G cells, increasing the reliability and availability of the terrestrial 5G access network.	IoT devices not able to get direct access to the 5G network; more complex UAVs with high energy consumption due to protocol conversion; more complex regenerative satellites with higher energy consumption, still to be designed, built, and launched.
Figure 5	5G-UE	RN	RN	RN (or 5G-gNB)	simpler and less resource-consuming UAVs and satellites, which can be based on non-5G technologies; 5G-gNBs’ complexity in the terrestrial segment’s nodes, which do not have strict resource constraints.	more complex and resource-consuming IoT devices equipped to get direct access to the 5G-RAN.
Figure 6	5G-UE	RN	5G-gNB	RN	simpler and less resource-consuming UAVs; regenerative satellites able to deploy 5G cells, increasing the reliability and availability of the terrestrial 5G access network.	more complex and resource-consuming IoT devices equipped to get direct access to the 5G-RAN; more complex regenerative satellites with higher energy consumption, still to be designed, built, and launched.
Figure 7	5G-UE	5G-gNB	RN	RN	UAVs able to deploy 5G cells on-demand for given locations and duration; simpler bent-pipe 5G-agnostic satellites as the ones already available and deployed.	more complex and resource-consuming IoT devices equipped to get direct access to the 5G-RAN; more complex and resource-consuming UAVs.