It is desirable and possible to use the same kind of omni-directional antennas which are used in terrestrial. To compensate for the low device antenna gain, the satellite must be equipped with a directional antenna with a higher gain. It will still be beneficial and possible for some devices to use a higher gain antenna to obtain a better link-budget.

There will often be direct line-of-sight between satellite and device but the Free-Space-Path-Loss for NTN NB-IoT is higher, due to a longer distance. The link budget is calculated separately for up- and downlink. Uplink is favored by the use of single-tone transmission which theoretically adds up to 17 dB gain. Antennas on GEO satellites typically have a large gain (around 50 dBi) while the gain is less for LEO satellites. This results in LEO and GEO link budgets with comparable dB ranges. Calculation on a smallsat LEO case indicates that SNR range for downlink is -5 to 0 dB while for uplink it is -2 to 3 dB (depending on elevation angle and distance between the device and satellite).

Even though current operational satellite frequency bands can be used, from 3GPP directive, the S-band (2-4 GHz) is set as exemplary band.

Common chipsets can be used to support multiple access technologies, as well  as to control carriers on multiple frequencies. For LEO satellites, the chipsets will need to be able to control the timing and frequency drifting, caused by the varying time delay and Doppler due to the motion of the satellite.

Since LEO (and MEO) satellites are moving around Earth at very high speeds (can be as fast as 28,000 K/hour), transmission signals are influenced by the Doppler effect. Mathematical algorithms are helping to reconstruct the transmission signalling by taking in account the (moving) positions of the satellite and device. For this GNSS position information of the satellite will be transmitted within System Information Broadcast messages. The location of the device can either be fixed configured or retrieved via an embedded GNSS module. By doing this, the original signal can be recovered, and the uplink transmission can be pre-compensated at the device side.

With GEO satellites positioned stationary at 36,000 K from Earth propagation delays up to 541 ms will occur. Comparably for a scenario with a LEO satellite on 600 K distance, this will vary between 4-26 ms depending on position of the satellite in relation to the device for regenerative systems. For transparent systems, as focused on in 3GPP Rel-17, the LEO propagation delay is doubled (8-52 ms).

Devices can stay connected (long) to the same GEO satellite, since the satellite is stationary. LEO satellites are moving in relation to the Earth, and devices will need to continue reselecting to different satellites (or will experience connection gaps). As NB-IoT currently does not support Handover procedures, a message transfer will need to finish during the pass of a single satellite.