Abstract
To meet the high demand for mobile data, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) established a set of standards known as 5G New Radio (5G NR). The architecture of 5G NR includes a flexible radio access network and a core network. 3GPP has also been working on a new radio access technology, called 5G NR Unlicensed (5G NR-U), which aims at extending 5G NR to unlicensed bands. In this article, we give an overview of the most recent 5G NR-U design elements and discuss potential concerns, including fair coexistence with other unlicensed technologies such as Wi-Fi. We use simulations to study coexistence between Wi-Fi and 5G NR-U systems. Our evaluation indicates that NR-U often achieves higher throughput and lower delay than Wi-Fi (802.11ac). The two systems experience different buffer occupancies and spectrum utilization statistics. We also discuss the improvements that NR-U offers over LTE Licensed Assisted Access (LTE-LAA).
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 689-701 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2021 |
Keywords
- 5G mobile networks
- 5G new radio unlicensed
- IEEE 802.11
- Next generation networks
- UNII bands
- Wi-Fi
- licensed assisted access
- wireless LAN
- wireless communications
- wireless networks
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Hardware and Architecture
- Computer Networks and Communications
- Artificial Intelligence