Overview of 5G Wireless Network Principles

Objectives

 Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

 Know about 5G network key capability

 5G Spectrum
 5G network architecture
 Learn about 5G-related channels and protocol stacks
 5G typical service flow

Contents

1. 5G Overview
2. 5G Network Architecture and Interface
3. 5G Physical Layer
4. Overview of 5G Basic Signaling Process
 1. 5G Overview
Challenges in 5G Era

5G Key Capabilities
IMT-2020 vs. IMT-Advanced Comparison of key KPIs Requirement on key KPIs Of Different
Applications

5G starts from 3GPP Release 15

5G Network Spectrum

 Adding spectrum is the most direct solution for capacity & transmission speed improvement. The
biggest 5G bandwidth is 1GHz, considering the current spectrum allocation condition, high
frequency spectrum has to be used for 5G communication

5G Network Spectrum

 3GPP defines sub-3 GHz, C-band, and mmWaveas 5G target spectrum.

Frequency Classification Frequency Range

FR1 450 MHz –6000 MHz
FR2 24250 MHz –52600 MHz

5G FR1 Defined in 3GPP Specifications

NR
Duplex
Operating Uplink Downlink
Mode
Band
n1 1920-1980MHz 2110-2170MHz FDD NR
Frequency Duplex
n2 1850-1910MHz 1930-1990MHz FDD Operating
Range Mode
n3 1710-1785MHz 1805-1880MHz FDD Band
n5 824-849MHz 869-894MHz FDD n75 1432-1517MHz SDL
n7 2500-2570MHz 2620-2690MHz FDD n76 1427-1432MHz SDL
n8 880-915MHz 925-960MHz FDD n77 3.3-4.2GHz TDD
n20 832-862MHz 791-821MHz FDD n78 3.3-3.8GHz TDD
n28 703-748MHz 758-803MHz FDD n79 4.4-5.0GHz TDD
n38 2570-2620MHz 2570-2620MHz TDD n80 1710-1785MHz SUL
n41 2496-2690MHz 2496-2690MHz TDD n81 880-915MHz SUL
n50 1432-1517MHz 1432-1517MHz TDD n82 832-862MHz SUL
n51 1427-1432MHz 1427-1432MHz TDD n83 703-748MHz SUL
n66 1710-1780MHz 2110-2200MHz FDD n84 1920-1980MHz SUL
n70 1695-1710MHz 1995-2020MHz FDD
n71 663-698MHz 617-652MHz FDD
n74 1427-1470MHz 1475-1518MHz FDD
5G FR2 Defined in 3GPP Specifications

 The mmWave defined 3 bands, all are TDD mode, support the cell bandwidth maximum is 400MHz

NR Operating
Frequency Range DuplexMode
Band
n257 26500 MHz –29500 MHz TDD
n258 24250 MHz –27500 MHz TDD
n260 37000 MHz –40000 MHz TDD

Definition of 5G Cell Bandwidth

 5G does not use cell bandwidth less than 5 MHz.5G features large bandwidth.
 The bandwidth below 20 MHz is defined to meet the evolution requirements of existing spectrum.

Relationship between the Subcarrier Bandwidth and the Maximum Bandwidth of the Cell
According the limitation of the protocol:

 In FR1, only the subcarrier greater than 30K, then the cell bandwidth can use 100M.
 In FR2, only the subcarrier greater than 60K, then the cell bandwidth can use 400M.

SCS 5MHz 10MHz 15MHz 20MHz 25MHz 30MHz 40MHz 50MHz 60MHz 80MHz 100MHz
(kHz) NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB NRB
15 25 52 79 106 133 [TBD] 216 270 N/A N/A N/A
30 11 24 38 51 65 [TBD] 106 133 162 217 273
60 N/A 11 18 24 31 [TBD] 51 65 79 107 135

SCS 50MHz 100MHz 200MHz 400 MHz

(kHz) NRB NRB NRB NRB
60 66 132 264 N/A
120 32 66 132 264
Available Spectrum for 5G

2. 5G Network Architecture and Interface

Network Architecture -Overview Architecture of 5G

 Compared with LTE, the logical function of control plane in 5G core network is divided into AMF
and SMF two functions.
Network Architecture -NGCVs EPC

Network Architecture-5G Network Structure

 NG-RAN: consists of several gNodeBs.

 gNB: an NR base station
 NGC: next generation core (consisting of AMF, UPF,
and SMF)
 AMF: access and mobility management function
 UPF: user plane function
 SMF: session management function
 NG-RAN: consists of several gNodeBs.
 gNB: an NR base station
 NGC: next generation core (consisting of AMF, UPF,
and SMF)
 AMF: access and mobility management function
 UPF: user plane function
 SMF: session management function
Network Architecture -5G Network Interfaces

Network Architecture -NSA/SANetworking

Network Architecture –NSA Networking
based on EPC（Option3 series ） NSA Features Deployment
Architecture Suggestions
 Option3 Networking Features ： Option3 PDCP split on LTE It is
 Common points: BBULimited data peak rate recommended
o EPC+NR+eLTEdual-connection Need hardware expansion to be
The user plane is anchored deployed
networking
on the eNodeBside, which when the
o The control plane is provided by reduces the user plane processing
the eLTE. NR only has user plane, interruption caused by capability on
which can solve the problem of mobility. the LTE side is
The gNBdoes not need to not limited.
continuous coverage at the initial
connect to the EPC.
stage. Therefore, there is no
 Differences: The user plane traffic requirement for EPC
distribution solution varies according to reconstruction.
Option3a Datasplit from EPC ,static Not
the three architectures. offload without RAN state recommended
o Option3: Data is offloaded from awareness
the eNodeB. Option3x PDCP split on NR BBU, It is
o Option3a: Data is splitedfrom the noimpact on legacy LTE, recommended
dynamic traffic offloadThe at the initial
EPC.
user plane is anchored in stage and has
o Option3x: Data is offloaded from the gNB, may change little impact
the gNB. frequently. The EPC needs on the LTE
to interwork with the gNB. network.

Network Architecture –NSAEN-DC Downlink Data Split

 Data traffic from LTE to NR.

 The existing LTE BBU needs to be reconstructed and expanded.
 Data traffic from NR to LTE
 The NR coverage is insufficient and multiple handovers occur.
Network Architecture -NR UL and DL Decoupling

 NR base station uses high frequency band for downlink transmission, for uplink, the frequency band
could be selectively shared with LTE low frequency band depending on UE coverage. That is an
implementation of uplink-downlink decoupling.

Network Architecture -NR UL and DL Decoupling

 Cloud Air-LTE and NR UL Spectrum Sharing

 Solution
o LTE and NR share carrier resources using
frequency division, which prevents
resource conflicts.
o LTE and NR determine their
respective available RBs based on
configurations.
 Maximum resource can shared with NR
 90% @ 20MHz
 80% @ 10MHz
Network Architecture -CU/DU Split

Network Architecture -E2E slicing Architecture

The RAN side implements slice awareness and multi-slice sharing of air interface resources. The
core network is customized based on different use case.

E2E control plane and user plane deployed according the service dynamically
Interface and Protocol Stack -NG Interface
The NG interface between the gNodeB and the core network is based on the IP network. The user
plane uses the GTP-U protocol, and the control plane uses the SCTP protocol (similar to LTE).

Interface and Protocol Stack –XnInterface

The Xn interface between gNodeBs is based on the IP network. The user plane uses the GTP-U
protocol, and the control plane uses the SCTP protocol (similar to LTE X2 interface).
Interface and Protocol Stack -F1Interface
F1 interface is the interface between gNB-CUand gNB-DU

Interface and Protocol Stack –Uu Interface

A new protocol layer SDAP is added to the 5G user plane to implement QoS mapping.

Uu interface - RRC Layer

The RRC layer processes all signaling between the UE and the gNodeB.
Uu interface -SDAP Layer

Uu interface -PDCP Layer

Uu interface-RLC Layer
The RLC layer provides radio link control functions. RLC contains three transmission modes: TM,
UM, and AM. It provides functions such as error correction, segmentation, and reassembly.

Uu interface -MAC Layer

The MAC layer provides the following functions: channel mapping and multiplexing, HARQ, and
radio resource allocation.
Uu interface -Physical Layer

Matching
MAC Scheduling based on QoS

RRC System information broadcast

RLC TM, UM, and AM classification

PDCP IP header compression

SDAP Mapping from QoS flows to DRBs

 3. 5G Physical Layer

Basic Process of the Physical Layer

5G Channel Coding -Polar Code and LDPC Code

The principles for selecting coding algorithms include error correction performance, delay, and
implementation efficiency.

 LDPC encoding
 Low implementation complexity
 Applies to high-speed and big data blocks and has advantages in parallel processing.
 Polar encoding
 When small data blocks are transmitted, the performance is better than that of other codes.
 Low maturity
 Turbo encoding
 Mature
Modulation

LTE 5G
QPSK
QPSK
16QAM
Uplink 16QAM
64QAM
64QAM
256QAM
QPSK
QPSK
16QAM
16QAM
Downlink 64QAM
64QAM
256QAM
256QAM
1024QAM

 Basic modulation principles:

One symbol may represent multiple bits using an amplitude and a phase, which improves spectral
efficiency by multiple levels. For example, in 16QAM, one symbol represents four bits.

F-OFDM
The F-OFDM technology optimizes channel processing such as filters, digital pre-distortion (DPD),
and radio frequency (RF). Using this technology, Huawei base stations can effectively improve the spectral
efficiency and peak throughput of the system bandwidth by ensuring RF protocol specifications such as the
adjacent channel leakage power ratio (ACLR) and blocking.
Full Duplex

 Traditional half duplex:

 Problem
 The sender and receiver cannot
share the same time and frequency
domain
resources.

 Solution
 The sender and receiver can share the same time
and frequency domain resources.

Massive MIMO Significantly Improves Cell Capacity

Adaptive Uplink Waveform

 NR supports Cyclic-Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) and DFT-spread

OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM).

 CP-OFDM
 Advantage: available discontinuous frequency domain resources, flexible resource
allocation, and large frequency diversity gain
 Disadvantage: relatively high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR)

 DFT-S-OFDM
 Advantage: low PAPR (approximately close to that of a single carrier) and high transmit
power
 Disadvantage: continuous frequency domain resources required

 According to the radio environment of the UE and the selected threshold THA, the network side
instructs the UE to select a proper CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM waveform. The UEs between the two
thresholds select different waveforms by using the anti-ping-pong mechanism. The switching
between the two waveforms is reconfigured by using RRC signaling.

 When the uplink SNR is greater than the threshold THA, the UE selects CP-OFDM.
 When the uplink SNR is lower than the threshold THB and RANK equals 1, the UE selects
DFT-S-OFDM.
 If the SNR is between THA and THB, the current waveform remains unchanged.
Resource Mapping -Overview of Physical Resources

Time Domain Resources-Frame, Subframe, Slot, and Symbol

 The general structure of the time domain on the air interface meets the requirements of data
transmission and in-band control for different RATs.
 Frame Structure

 1 radio frame = 10 ms
 1 radio frame = 10 subframes
 1 subframe= 1 ms

Self-Contained Frame Structure

 Self-contained slots are classified into DL-dominant slots and UL-dominant slots:
 The uplink part of DL-dominant slots can be used for the transmission of uplink control
information and SRSs.
 The downlink part of UL-dominant slots can be used for the transmission of downlink
control information.

Basic Frequency Domain Resource Unit

 Resource element (RE)

 For each antenna port p, a unit corresponding to a
subcarrier on an OFDM symbol is called an RE. (The
subcarrier spacing corresponding to μ is 2μx15 kHz.)
 Resource block (RB)
 In one slot, 12 consecutive REs in the frequency
domain are one RB.
Multi numerologies

 NR supports multiple numerologies (different subcarrier bandwidths and CPs).

Channel Management-Logical channels

 Logical channels are available between the MAC layer and the RLC layer. Each logical channel type
is defined according to the type of the data to be transmitted. Generally, logical channels are
classified into control channels and traffic channels.
 Control channels include:
 Broadcast control channel (BCCH)
 Paging control channel (PCCH)
 Common control channel (CCCH)
 Dedicated control channel (DCCH)
 Traffic channels include:
 Dedicated traffic channel (DTCH)

Channel Management-Transport channels

 Transport channels are available between the MAC layer and the PHY layer. Each transport channel
type is defined according to the transmission data type and the data transmission method on the
air interface.
 Downlink transport channels are classified into:
 Broadcast channel (BCH)
 Downlink shared channel (DL-SCH)
 Paging channel (PCH)
 Uplink transport channels are classified into:
 Uplink shared channel (UL-SCH)
 Random access channel (RACH)
Channel Management-Physical channels

 Physical channels perform coding, modulation, multi-antenna processing, and mapping of signals
onto appropriate physical time-frequency resources. An upper-layer transport channel can be
mapped to one or more physical channels.
 Downlink physical channels include:
 Physical broadcast channel (PBCH)
 Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)
 Physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)
 Uplink physical channels include:
 Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)
 Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)
 Physical random access channel (PRACH)

Channel Management-Downlink Physical Channels

Channel Management-Downlink Physical Signals

Channel Management-Uplink Physical Channels

Channel Management-Uplink Physical Signals

Channel Management-Downlink channel mapping

Channel Management-Uplink channel mapping
 4. Overview of 5G Basic Signaling Process

UE Power-On and Network Access

 PLMN search (cell search)

 After a UE is powered on, its first task is to find and access a network. Actually, PLMN
search is a downlink synchronization process.
 Random access
 Random access aims to alleviate contention between UEs and achieve uplink
synchronization.
 Attach
 Sets up the same mobility context on the UE and the core network.
 Sets up a default bearer between the UE and the core network.
 The UE obtains an IP address allocated by the network through an EPS attach procedure.
 Common process
 Authentication and security mode process

Overview of the Initial Access Procedure

 In the NSA networking, the gNodeB does not need to broadcast the RMSI. The content in the RMSI
is sent to the UE by the LTE.
Overview of System Message Broadcast

 NR synchronization and system message broadcasting include: PSS/SSS, PBCH, RMSI, and OSI
 The PSS/SSS is used by the UE to synchronize the downlink clock and obtain the cell ID of the
cell.
 The PBCH (MIB) is used by the UE to obtain the basic information about the access network.
It is mainly used to notify the UE where to receive the RMSI message.
 The RMSI (SIB1) is used to broadcast the initial BWP information, the UL and DL ratio of the
TDD cell, and the necessary information for other UEs to access the network.
 Other System Information (OSI) is used to broadcast other cell information. (Currently, this
part is not used in NSA networking.)
 To support massive MIMO, all broadcast channels and signals support beam scanning.

Broadcast channel beam scanning

 A broadcast beam can be designed for a maximum of N directional beams. The broadcast beam
coverage of the cell is completed by sending different beams at different moments. By scanning
beams, the UE obtains an optimal beam, and completes synchronization and system message
demodulation.

SIB1

 The SIB1 message is used to broadcast the basic information required when the UE initially accesses
the network, including the initial SSB information, initial SSB information, and downlink channel
configuration.
 In NSA, SIB1 is not broadcast. The contents carried in SIB1 are delivered to the UE through the LTE
in the RRC reconfiguration message.
 Currently, the SIB1 message in 3GPP is not defined completely
Other System Information Broadcast

 OSI（Other System Information）

 Including SIB2~SIBn
 OSI over PDSCH
 Periodic broadcast
 The SIBs with the same
transmission period is mapped to
the same SI message.
 SIBs in different transmission
periods cannot be mapped to the
same SI message.
 SIBs with the same transmission
period can be mapped to different
SI message.

Random Access

 Random access is a process in which a UE implements

uplink time-frequency synchronization with the gNodeB.
 Before random access, the physical layer should receive
the following information from upper layers:
 PRACH parameters: PRACH configuration,
frequency domain location, preamble format, and
so on
 The gNodeB uses the preamble root sequence and
its cyclic shift parameters to demodulate the
random access preamble.
 Physical layer random access includes the following steps.
 The UE sends random Access preamble.
 The gNodeB responds to random access requests.
5G Networking Mode
Phase1.1 launches the 5G non-standalone networking architecture (NSA, NR+EPC) and uses the
MSA technology to implement collaboration between the two modes. Phase1.2 launched the 5G
independent network architecture (SA, NR+NGC).

NSA networking based on EPC

 The eNodeB is an MeNB, and the

gNodeBis SgNB.
 EN-DC specifications: 1MeNB+1SgNB
 Intra-RAT CA specifications:
 DL: The LTE side supports 5CC,
and the NR side supports 1CC.
 UL: Total 2CC, LTE 2CC or LTE
1CC+NR 1CC
NSA Process

Procedure for adding SgNB

Concept-SgNB Change

 SgNB change is a process in which the PSCELL of a UE is transferred from a cell on the NR side to
another cell in the NSA scenario,
 In the NSA scenario, the measurement event of the NR is delivered on the LTE side. The NR has a
measurement control module. The measurement control information of the NR measurement
control module is transmitted to the LTE through the X2 interface. The LTE delivers the
measurement control information to the UE. The measurement information of the UE is reported
to the LTE, and the LTE sends the measurement report information to the NR through the X2
interface.

Procedure for SgNodeB Change

Acronyms and Abbreviations

 EN-DC：E-UTRAN-NR Dual Connectivity

 MeNB：Master eNodeB
 NR：New Radio
 NSA：Non-Standalone
 PCell：Primary Cell
 PSCell：Primary SCell
 SA：Standalone
 SgNB：Secondary gNodeB