NR: 3GPP’s 5G radio

access technology
© 3GPP 2012

John M Meredith

Director,
ETSI Mobile Competence Centre
© ETSI 2018 1
 What is 5G NR ?
NR is a major new radio access technology developed by 3GPP, as a logical further
step beyond LTE-Advanced Pro. But like LTE, NR uses modulation based on OFDM
for both downlink and uplink.
(LTE uses OFDM for the downlink, SC-FDMA* for the uplink.)

Operation from quite low to very high bands: 0.4 – 100 Ghz
© 3GPP 2012

• Including stand-alone operation in unlicensed

bands

*SC-FDMA - a modification of OFDM giving

Ultra wide bandwidth
• Up to 100MHz in bands below 6 GHz
• Up to 400MHz in bands above 6 GHz
better peak-to-average-power-ratio (PAPR)
and thus lower power consumption in mobile
units. A number of OFDM variants are
possible with NR, each optimizing certain
parameters.
© ETSI 2018 2
What did we set out to achieve ?

© 3GPP 2012

Source: ITU-R

© ETSI 2018 3
 Which is more important?

Evolved Mobile Broadband is important

• The main priority for some early operators
• Business models and revenue streams are well understood
• 5G Phase1 addresses very well this use case family

© 3GPP 2012

...but so are Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency

Communications and Massive Machine Type
Communications
• URLLC features are contained in 5G Phase 1
• URLLC and mMTC to be fully covered in 5G Phase 2

© ETSI 2018 4
 Is 5G just higher data rates ?
IMT2020 detailed performance targets are being set by ITU-R as follows:

• Peak data rate [Downlink: 20Gbit/s, Uplink: 10Gbit/s]

• Peak spectral efficiency
• User experienced data rate
• 5th percentile user spectral efficiency
• Average spectral efficiency
• Area traffic capacity
• User plane latency
• Control plane latency
• Connection density
• Energy efficiency
• Reliability
• Mobility
• Mobility interruption time
• Bandwidth
[Downlink: 30bit/s/Hz, Uplink: 15bit/s/Hz]
[Dense Urban Downlink: 100Mbit/s, Uplink: 50Gbit/s]
[Indoor Hotspot, eMBB scenario: Downlink: 0,3bit/s/Hz]
[Indoor Hotspot, eMBB scenario: Downlink: 9bit/s/Hz/TRxP]
© 3GPP
[Downlink indoor 2012 (eMBB scenario): 10Mbit/s/m2]
hotspot
[4ms for eMBB, 1 ms for URLLC]
[Maximum 20ms, ideally 10ms]
[eMTC scenario, 1 000 000 devices per km2]
[no values at this stage]
[URLLC scenario: 1/10-5]
[Up to 500 km/h (rural eMBB)]
[eMBB and URLLC scenarios: 0ms]
[Minimum 100MHz, Maximum 1GHz]

© ETSI 2018 5
 Where did our work begin?
3GPP consultative workshop: Phoenix, September
2015
• 550 experts from industry, government, regulators, research and academia
• Agreed to split 5G Standardization into two phases:
• Phase 1 (new radio and core network) to be delivered by mid 2018 (to address a more urgent sub-set of commercial
needs) © 3GPP 2012
• Phase 2 to be delivered by end 2019 (to address all identified use cases and requirements)
• Agreed that 5G standards must address 3 major use case families: eMBB, mMTC, URLLC
• Intention was to enable new industry sectors to benefit from 5G (e.g., Automotive, Health, Energy, Manufacturing
…)

...but 5G building blocks were already being

NGP defined
NFV

in ETSI, e.g.:
• ETSI ISG Network Functions Virtualization (NFV): started work in 2013 ENI OSM
• ETSI ISG Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC): started work in 2014
MEC © ETSI 2018 6
 Numerology
Numerology: The believe in the divine, mystical relationship
between a number and one or more coinciding events; also the
study of the numerical value of the letters in words, names and
ideas. Often associated with the paranormal, alongside
© 3GPP 2012
astrology and similar divinatory arts.

Numerology: The codification of the relationship between

channels and carrier frequencies in different spectral bands.

© ETSI 2018 7
 Numerology
Scalable OFDM numerology with scaling of subcarrier spacing.
• LTE supports carrier bandwidths up to 20 MHz with a mainly fixed OFDM numerology – 15
kHz subcarrier spacing. But NR offers scalable OFDM numerology to support diverse
spectrum bands and deployment models. NR can operate in mmWave bands with wide
channel widths (hundreds of MHz) and the OFDM subcarrier spacing has to be able to
scale accordingly so that FFT complexity does not increase exponentially for wider
© 3GPP 2012
bandwidths.

© ETSI 2018 8
 Numerology
Native forward compatibility mechanisms – the numerology is
inherently adaptable to any frequency band.

© 3GPP 2012

15*2N kHz sub-carrier spacing

New channel coding

• LDPC* for data channel, Polar coding for control channel
*Low-Density Parity-Checking [code]

© ETSI 2018 9
 Numerology

Numerology: The believe in the divine, mystical relationship

between a number and one or more coinciding events; also the
study of the numerical value of the letters in words, names and
© 3GPP 2012

ideas. Often associated with the paranormal, alongside

astrology and similar divinatory arts.

Extracts from TS 38.212

© ETSI 2018 10
 What do I get from NR ?

Native support for Low Latency and Ultra Reliability

© 3GPP 2012

Flexible and modular RAN architecture: split

fronthaul, split control- and user-planes

Native end-to-end support for Network Slicing

© ETSI 2018 11
Delivering the 5G vision
© 3GPP 2012

through multiple phases

© ETSI 2018 12
 When do I get NR ?

© 3GPP 2012

Summary
- Licensed bands between 600MHz – 39 GHz
- LTE-Anchored 5G (NSA), and Standalone (SA) 5G
- Basic URLLC support
- Massive MIMO
- Flexible RAN architecture
13
- Fulfills IMT2020 criteria © ETSI 2018
 Is there more to come ?

© 3GPP 2012

… towards the full 5G vision:

- V2X support – autonomous driving
- Enhanced MIMO
- Support for Unlicensed bands
- Factory automation
- Support of higher bands (>52.6 GHz)
-…
© ETSI 2018 14
 Who is doing what?
Developing
internet protocol
Developing Recommendations specs
Referring to specs

ITU-R/T Developing Mobile

application specs
Cross Cross reference
reference of Specifying a complete 5G
specs system description
3GPP Market
Requirements Partners
Reference © 3GPP 2012
to 3GPP
specs
Terminal
Partners certification
referring to based on 3GPP
3GPP specs specs
for the local
use

EU Japan Korea China North America India

© ETSI 2018 15
 ITU-R submission for IMT-2020

© 3GPP 2012

source: RP-172098
© ETSI 2018 16
RAN #79: “late drop” for NR in Rel-15

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 17
 Where are we now?
5G NR (first drop) completed ahead of schedule
• The specification of 5G NSA NR completed in December 2017, 6 months ahead of schedule, at the request of those
players that wished to deploy 5G early (in non-standalone mode)
• The remainder of 5G Phase 1* (including Next Generation Core Network) on schedule to be completed by June 2018
(enabling deployment in standalone mode)
• *A few aspects of some architectures will be completed in a late drop in December 2018.
© 3GPP 2012

... but how was that possible?

• 3GPP Working Groups saw a large increase in experts participation (around 600 experts present in some working
group meetings)
• Some 5-day meetings addressed ~ 3000 contributions
• During 2017, 3GPP processed 100 000 input contributions over 75 000 delegate/days of meetings
• This represents an unprecedented effort from the whole industry.

© ETSI 2018 18
 Is it just the same old faces?
3GPP Members now include, for example:
• Agricultural machinery manufacturers (e.g., John Deere, Husqvana, etc)
• Automotive manufactures (e.g, Volkswagen, Volvo, Toyota)
• Rail (e.g., International Union of Railways)
• Factory Automation companies (e.g., Siemens)
• Energy Sector (e.g., Legrand)
© 3GPP 2012
• Environment (e.g., Veolia)
• Broadcasting Community (e.g., EBU, BBC, TDF)
• Satellite Community (e.g., ESO, Inmarsat)
• Aerospace (e.g., Lockheed Martin, BAE)
• Retail Sector (e.g., Alibaba)
• Social Media (e.g., Facebook)
• Advertising (e.g., Google)

Full listing available here:

http://www.3gpp.org/about-3gpp/membership
© ETSI 2018 19
 Is it really an
International Standard?
Participation in 3GPP:
570 member companies in
43 countries from © 3GPP 2012

5 continents:
• Africa
• Asia (especially China, India, Japan and Korea)
• Australia
• Greater Europe
• North America

© ETSI 2018 20
 Release timeline unchanged
Rel-15 schedule unchanged
• Architecture Option 3: ASN.1 Freeze March 2018
• RAN#79 endorsed the freeze of NSA ASN.1 and approved the corresponding CRs
• Architecture Option 2: ASN.1 Freeze September 2018
• Architecture Option 5: ASN.1 Freeze September 2018 (only impacts LTE ASN.1)
• Priorities unchanged: Until June WGs shall prioritize
© 3GPP 2012 Option-3 stabilization (only essential corrections
allowed), and on Option-2 specification work
Rel-16 schedule unchanged
• Approval of the main package of SIs/WIs to be done in June/2018 as already planned
• Approval of further urgent items at a later stage shall still be possible
• TU and project planning of all SIs/WIs (already approved ones and newly approved ones)
will be done together as a package in June/2018 and adjusted in subsequent RAN plenary
meetings

© ETSI 2018 21
 Late drop for Rel-15
Introduce a late drop for Rel-15 that follows Rel-15 completion by 6 months
The late drop is to exclusively contain NR architecture options that were not completed by
September ASN.1 drop
• Options 4, 7 are part of the late drop
• NR-NR Dual Connectivity to be considered to be added to the late drop at RAN#80
• Scope to target minimum RAN1 impact, scope to be addressed at RAN#80
• © 3GPPcan
NR-NR DC band combinations (limited to FR1-FR2) 2012
be proposed in RAN4 in Q2, pending final approval at RAN#80
• No other WG work to proceed specifically on NR-NR DC in Q2
• Hardware impacts for the late drop should be avoided
• After RAN#79, no further functionality will be considered to be included in the late drop
• Band combinations which are not completed by June 2018 (other than NR-NR DC combinations) will be
moved to Rel-16 band specifications, but continue to be release independent.
• In case Option 5 is not completed by September ASN.1 drop, it will be part of the late drop
The late Rel-15 ASN.1 drop is to be strictly backwards compatible
No assumptions are made in this proposal on UE capabilities wrt different NR architecture
options © ETSI 2018 22
 Rel-16 planning
RAN#80 in June will target to approve the bulk of the Release-16 work
package (SIs/WIs).
• The approval process will plan for 6 “ordinary” WG meetings per year plus additional
“ad hoc” meetings.
RAN is conducting several email discussions to consolidate the scope for
© 3GPP 2012
larger work areas.
See the full list in RP-172795 and RP-180594.
Goals and principles for these email discussions is unchanged,
see RP-172795.
Other individual company proposals are also encouraged to be further
developed on the RAN_Drafts exploder.

© ETSI 2018 23
 Other Release 15 NR study items
These studies are preparing for potential normative Release 16 work items ...

Study on NR to support non-terrestrial networks RP-171450

Study on NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum RP-172021
Study on Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) for NR RP-171043
Study on integrated access and backhaul for© 3GPP
NR 2012 RP-172290
Study on CU-DU lower layer split for New Radio RP-172797
Study of test methods for New Radio RP-180546
Study on eNB(s) Architecture Evolution for E-UTRAN and NG-RAN RP-172707
Study on evaluation methodology of new V2X use cases for LTE and NR RP-171093
Feasibility Study on 6 GHz for LTE and NR in Licensed and Unlicensed Operations: RP-180168

All tdocs are freely available via the web site and portal.
© ETSI 2018 24
The global spectrum landscape

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 25
 Is 5G just NR ?
No. To realize the full potential of what NR can offer,
the core network needs to evolve from the Enhanced
Packet Core (EPS) of 4G to the Next Generation Core
Network (NGCN) of 5G. © 3GPP 2012

So what does the (simplified) architecture look

like?

© ETSI 2018 26
 5G system architecture
No fewer than 12 potential architectural migration
options were described in 3GPP TDoc RP-161266 in
June 2016.
© 3GPP 2012

The 4G system The 5G system

© ETSI 2018 27
5G system architecture

© 3GPP 2012

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5G system architecture

© 3GPP 2012

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5G system architecture

© 3GPP 2012

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5G system architecture

© 3GPP 2012

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5G system architecture

© 3GPP 2012

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5G system architecture

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 33
 5G system architecture
Stand-alone (SA) and non-stand-alone (NSA)
NSA: NR mobiles connect to the NR base station (gNB), and the gNB
backhauls via an LTE base station (eNB) to the EPC core network.
SA: NR mobiles connect to the NR gNB, and the gNB backhauls directly
to the NGCN. © 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 34
 5G system architecture
Stand-alone (SA) and non-stand-alone (NSA)
The “LTE-assisted” NSA options (3a, 4a, 7a, 8a) allow the mobile’s user-
plane traffic to pass directly from the NR to the EPC. Control-plane
traffic still passes via the LTE radio access network.
© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 35
 5G system architecture
3GPP decided to concentrate initially on NSA option 3
– being the easiest to roll out by operators having
existing LTE networks.
The specifications for these were completed in
© 3GPP 2012

December 2017.

© ETSI 2018 36
 5G system architecture
SA specifications will be completed in two drops, June
2018 (most remaining architectures) and December
2018 (options 4 & 7).
© 3GPP 2012

Both evolved LTE and NR radio access technology networks will co-exist for
the foreseeable future, with evolved LTE at lower frequency bands and NR
at higher bands.
The EPC will evolve into the NGCN.
© ETSI 2018 37
 5G system architecture
Note that the 4G network (LTE radio + EPC
core) will continue to exist in the 5G era. From
Release 15 onwards, all 3GPP specifications
will be badged as except those few legacy
© 3GPP 2012

specs which are restricted to GSM/EDGE (4x.-

and 5x.-series) or UMTS (25.-series) radio
technologies, or pure circuit-switched
functionality.
© ETSI 2018 38
 Radio technology spec series
GERAN (GSM/EDGE) = 4x.- and 5x.-series
UTRAN (3G including HSPA) = 25.-series
E-UTRAN (pre-4G Releases 8..9)
(true 4G Releases 10..12)
© 3GPP 2012

(and Releases 13..14)

= 36.-series
NR (5G Release 15 ...) = 38.-series
Multi-RAT, including Wi-Fi® = 37.-series
© ETSI 2018 39
 Topological considerations
NR offers the next step in the
evolution of cellular performance, but
at the cost of much higher base
station densities (and therefore much
smaller cells). © 3GPP 2012

Using millimeter waves is now

technologically feasible at reasonable
complexity and cost.
But …

© ETSI 2018 40
 Topological considerations
These mm wavelengths suffer poorer propagation characteristics
compared with longer wavelengths:
high penetration loss
reduced diffraction
© 3GPP 2012
increased scattering
increased reflection, even from “small” objects such as lamp-posts
higher absorption by atmosphere (rain, snow, fog, …), vegetation
(leafy trees), and even human bodies
…
5G channel model – see 3GPP TR 38.901.

© ETSI 2018 41
 Topological considerations
But these problems can be countered by …
massive multiple input multiple output antenna arrays
8x8, 16x16, … 256x256 … (?)

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 42
 Topological considerations

… which become feasible at these wavelengths, even in the mobile unit,

offering dynamic beamforming, allowing base stations to track moving
mobiles, using low, but concentrated, RF power output …
© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 43
 Topological considerations

… and hence permitting intelligent diversity using multipath reflections

to improve (rather than detract from!) performance, re-routing the
beam around obstacles;
© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 44
 Topological considerations

“Dual Connectivity” (DC) whereby, near handover time, a mobile unit

will be connected to two base stations, ensuring seamless handover.

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 45
 Topological considerations

Coordinated multi-point connectivity (CoMP) – improvement near cell

edge to allow simultaneous connection to two or more base stations

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 46
 Topological considerations

Front-haul, back-haul, relay, side-haul

core network

© 3GPP 2012

BBU

Front-haul – between RF
front end units and
baseband unit
© ETSI 2018 47
 Topological considerations

Front-haul, back-haul, relay, side-haul

core network

© 3GPP 2012

NR back-haul – fixed
connection between RAN
and CN where no fibre
connection available
(BBU not shown for
simplicity)

© ETSI 2018 48
 Topological considerations

Front-haul, back-haul, relay, side-haul

core network
Relay between
gNBs not directly © 3GPP 2012
connected to the
CN

© ETSI 2018 49
 Topological considerations

Front-haul, back-haul, relay, side-haul

core network

© 3GPP 2012

Side-haul – between mobile

units
(e.g.Mission Critical, V2V,
truck convoys ...)

© ETSI 2018 50
 Topological considerations

Fixed wireless access

core network

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 51
 Early, pre-standardized,
implementations / proofs of concept
PyeongChang winter olympics, Feb 2018

• 5G realistic media; sync view

© 3GPP 2012

The viewer’s video is synchronized with the

camera installed on athlete’s helmet kit or
instruments to provide the viewer with the live
view of the game.

© ETSI 2018 52
PyeongChang winter olympics, Feb 2018

• 5G realistic media; omipoint view

© 3GPP 2012
Long-distance races such as cross country
can be re-built in 3D virtual space. Users
receive live updates on the performance of
the athlete of their choice by locating the
athlete through micro-tracker attached to
the athletes during the game.

© ETSI 2018 53
PyeongChang winter olympics, Feb 2018

• 5G realistic media; interactive time slice

© 3GPP 2012

Users can choose the angles and time points of

which they would like to watch the short track,
figure skating and half-pipe competitions. The
Flying View function enables 360˚ view of each
competition, and Time Slice function provides
the slow motion view of any moment of the
competition they choose.
© ETSI 2018 54
PyeongChang winter olympics, Feb 2018

• 5G connected car
© 3GPP 2012
Inside the 5G Connected Car, semi-
transparent display provides
multiple 5G experiences and high
quality (4K) videos of the Games. It
also provides a variety of visual
content based on augmented
reality and virtual reality.
© ETSI 2018 55
 In summary, NR offers the supplier
Simpler architecture, less signalling overhead
Enormous bandwidth – 1 Gbit/s easily achievable even at < 6 GHz – thanks to highly flexible
carrier aggregation, wide spectrum availability and very efficient use of that spectrum due to
latest modulation techniques; and bandwidth doubling thanks to full duplex (simultaneous
same frequency tx & rx) operation – half the cost per Mbit/s? : in short, more traffic
Flexible sub-carrier spacing to optimize©performance
3GPP 2012 in noisy environments
Thanks to massive MIMO and beamforming, better service to customers
Long mobile unit battery life thanks to high energy efficiency, more appealing to users
Very long battery life for IoT remote stations, technology of choice for users
Low latency, technology appropriate for response-time-critical “vertical” industry
applications
The versatility of software-defined radio and network function virtualization
Separation of user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) traffic
© ETSI 2018 56
 In summary, NR offers the end user
Enormous bandwidth – ultra fast file download
Thanks to massive MIMO and beamforming, low interference between users, even
at high user densities – better user experience
Long mobile unit battery life thanks to high energy efficiency – less frequent need
for charging batteries © 3GPP 2012
Very long battery life (10 years +) for IoT remote stations – 3GPP 5G becomes the
technology of choice
Massive IoT feasible, with network-edge computing and network slicing tailoring
service to specific user classes
Low latency, therefore ‘instant’ response – vital for V2X, factory automation, tele-
surgery, interactive gaming, …

© ETSI 2018 57
© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 58
Evolution from 4G to 5G

© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 59
 What will the economic impact be?
“5G-powered smart city solutions applied to the management of
Accenture report (Jan 2017) vehicle traffic and electrical grids alone could produce an
estimate of $160 billion in benefits and savings for local
communities and their residents. These 5G attributes will enable
estimates : cities to reduce commute times, improve public safety and
generate significant smart-grid efficiencies.”
• U.S. GDP boost of $500 billion
• Creation of 3 million new jobs© 3GPP 2012
https://newsroom.accenture.com/content/1101/files/Accenture_5G-Municipalities-Become-
Smart-Cities.pdf

© ETSI 2018 60
 Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the following for the use of
their material in these slides:
• Balasz Bertenyi, Chairman TSG RAN
• T-Mobile USA
• Nokia
• Qualcomm
© 3GPP 2012
• SK Telecom
• Ministry of Science and ITC, Korea
• Samsung
• NTT-DOCOMO
• ITU-R
• Accenture
www.3gpp.org
• My ETSI colleagues, in particular
Adrian Scrase, Joern Krause and Kyoungseok Oh
© ETSI 2018 61
© 3GPP 2012

© ETSI 2018 62