Wireless Networks (2021) 27:5173–5188

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-021-02811-y (0123456789().,-volV)
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ORIGINAL PAPER

5G NR system design: a concise survey of key features and capabilities

Federica Rinaldi1 • Alessandro Raschellà2 • Sara Pizzi1

Accepted: 27 September 2021 / Published online: 20 October 2021

Ó The Author(s) 2021

Abstract
As we enter a new era of next-generation wireless systems represented by Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR)
technology, it is essential to grasp the recent progress in their standardization and development. This article offers a concise
survey of the 5G NR system design that aims at introducing its features according to the relevant Third Generation
Partnership (3GPP) specifications. Our focus is set on the flexibility of 5G NR, which refers to its capability to support
novel services and technologies, such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Internet of Things (IoT) for massive
Machine Type Communications (mMTC) while satisfying the underlying quality requirements. The key enablers of the 5G
NR operation are scalable numerology, ultra-lean and beam-centric design, support for low latency, spectrum extension,
and forward compatibility. This work summarizes these important features by studying the overall 5G architecture and the
user-/control-plane protocol stacks specified by 3GPP. Furthermore, the impact of scalable numerology on system per-
formance is discussed. Finally, we also consider open challenges and future research directions.

Keywords 5G  New radio  Scalable numerology  5G use cases

Abbreviations CCCH Common Control Channel

3GPP Third Generation Partnership CDSA Control/Data Separation Architecture
5G Fifth Generation CHF CHarging Function
5GC 5G Core Network CN Core Network
5G-EIR 5G-Equipment Identity Register CORESET Control Resource Set
AF Application Function CP Control Plane
AM Acknowledged Mode CPF Control Plane Function
AMF Access and Mobility Management CP-OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multi-
Function plexing with Cyclic Prefix
AS Access Stratum CQI Channel Quality Indicator
AUSF Authentication Server Function CRI CSI-RS Resource Indicator
BCCH Broadcast Control Channel CSI Channel State Information
BCH Broadcast Channel CSI-RS Channel State Information Reference
BSR Buffer Status Reporting Signal
BWP Bandwidth Part CU Central Unit
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
DFT-s-OFDM Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-
& Federica Rinaldi OFDM
[email protected]
DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal
Alessandro Raschellà DL-SCH Downlink Shared Channel
[email protected]
DRX Discontinuous Reception
Sara Pizzi DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel
[email protected]
DU Distributed Unit
1
DIIES Department, University Mediterranea of Reggio eMBB enhanced Mobile Broadband
Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy EN-DC E-UTRAN NR-Dual Connectivity
2
School of Computer Science and Mathematics, Liverpool EPC Evolved Packet Core
John Moores University (LJMU), Liverpool, UK

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E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio PDU Packet Data Unit

Access PEI Permanent Equipment Identifier
E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio PHY Physical
Access Network PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
FDD Frequency Division Duplex PRB Physical Resource Block
FR Frequency Range PRS Positioning Reference Signal
gNB 5G NodeB PSS Primary Synchronization Signal
HTC Holographic Type Communications PTRS Phase-Tracking Reference Signal
ICI Inter-Carrier Interference PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
IoT Internet of Things PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
IRS Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces QFI QoS Flow Identifier
ITU International Telecommunications Union QoS Quality of Service
KPI Key Performance Indicator RACH Random Access Channel
LCG Logical Channel Group RAN Radio Access Network
LCP Logical Channel Prioritization RAT Radio Access Technology
LI Layer Indicator RI Rank Indicator
LTE Long Term Evolution RLC Radio Link Control
MAC Medium Access Control RRC Radio Resource Control
MCG Master Cell Group RRM Radio Resource Management
MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme RS Reference Signal
MIB Master Information Block SCG Secondary Cell Group
MIMO Multiple-Input Multiple-Output SCS Subcarrier spacing
mMTC massive Machine Type Communications SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol
MN Master Node SDU Service Data Unit
MR-DC Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity SMF Session Management Function
MU-MIMO Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple- SN Secondary Node
Output SR Scheduling Request
mmWave millimeter-Wave SRB Signaling Radio Bearers
NAS Non-Access Stratum SRS Sounding Reference Signal
NE-DC NR E-UTRAN-Dual Connectivity SSBRI SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator
NEF Network Exposure Function SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal
NG Next Generation SUL Supplementary Uplink
ng-eNB new generation LTE NodeB TDD Time Division Duplex
NGEN-DC Next-Generation-Dual Connectivity TM Transparent Mode
NG-RAN Next-Generation Radio Access Network TTI Transmission Time Interval
NOMA Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access UCMF UE radio Capability Management
NR New Radio Function
NR-DC NR-NR Dual Connectivity UDM Unified Data Management
NRF Network Repository Function UDR Unified Data Repository
NSSAAF Network Slice Specific Authentication UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Function
and Authorization Function UE User Equipment
NSSF Network Slice Selection Function UL-SCH Uplink Shared Channel
NTN Non-Terrestrial Network UM Unacknowledged Mode
NWDAF Network Data Analytics Function UP User Plane
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency-Division UPF User Plane Function
Multiplexing uRLLC ultra-Reliable Low Latency
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel Communications
PCCH Paging Control Channel
PCH Paging Channel
PCF Policy Control Function
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

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1 Introduction uplink carrier is associated with a certain downlink carrier,

in the case of SUL, a conventional downlink/uplink carrier
The Fifth Generation (5G) wireless system, whose air is associated with a supplementary uplink carrier operating
interface is known as ‘‘New Radio’’ (NR) [1], represents at lower frequencies. The objective of SUL is to extend
the most promising next-generation solution to meet the uplink coverage and increase uplink data rates in the case
needs of the increasingly demanding mobile market. The of limited power owing to reduced path loss in low-fre-
5G NR provides dissimilar types of service characterized quency bands.
by different requirements. In this article, we first concisely review the 5G NR
In this regard, the International Telecommunication system by focusing on the 5G network architecture design
Union (ITU) [2] defines the macro-categories of use cases: and user-/control-plane protocol stacks specified by 3GPP
(i) enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) for services with in the 38th specification series. Then, we analyze the 5G
high data-rates; (ii) machine-type devices interconnected NR system performance under varying channel bandwidths
through the Internet of Things (IoT) for massive Machine for all numerologies. Our goal is to offer the reader—as a
Type Communications (mMTC) that require low cost, low one-stop tutorial that is clear and accessible—an overview
power consumption, and long battery life; to connect of the key 5G NR concepts.
numerous devices with low cost, low power consumption, In the literature, many works deal with the 5G NR
and long battery life; and (iii) Ultra-Reliable Low Latency technology by focusing on the main research problems,
Communications (URLLC) for low latency two-way e.g., mobility management [6], energy efficiency [7],
transfers between devices under extreme network beamforming and antenna configuration [8], and radio
reliability. resource management (RRM). In particular, RRM is an
For 5G NR standardization, the Third Generation Part- extremely important research topic for 5G NR systems,
nership (3GPP) reconsiders many aspects of a wireless including both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks
system, e.g., the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) targets, (NTNs). Regarding this latter, in [9], an innovative RRM
network architecture, radio access network (RAN) func- approach has been proposed for 5G NR multi-beam NTNs.
tions, and the entire network protocol stack. As a result, 5G Furthermore, the dynamic spectrum management has been
NR [3] can provide multiple benefits as compared to Long addressed in [10] for simultaneous transmissions via
Term Evolution (LTE). licensed and unlicensed bands in 5G wireless networks
First, an extension of the spectrum range allows NR to based on Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA),
support operations in licensed bands from below 1 GHz to which was initially considered to be a 3GPP study item for
52.6 GHz. This is different from LTE, which operates in 5G NR but then it was left for beyond 5G [11]. Other works
the licensed spectrum at 3.5 GHz and unlicensed spectrum overview the main features of the 5G NR technology. They
at 5 GHz. At millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) frequencies, are listed in Table 1 where we also summarize our
high capacity and extreme data rates are possible, even contributions.
though higher frequencies introduce limitations in cover- The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. In
age due to increased signal attenuation. Further, scalable Sect. 2, the overall 5G architecture is presented. Then, the
numerology [4] represents a major 5G innovation to offer 5G NR physical layer is summed up in Sect. 3. Sections 4
network flexibility. Indeed, NR may adjust its subcarrier and 5 describe the 5G radio protocol architecture for user-
spacing (SCS), which is fixed to 15 kHz in LTE [5]. plane and control-plane, respectively. The 5G NR system
Second, 5G NR is designed ultra-lean to lower inter- performance is evaluated under different numerologies in
ference and increase energy efficiency by reducing always- Sect. 6. Open challenges and future research directions are
on transmissions, which is a crucial aspect to extend the illustrated in Sect. 7. Finally, conclusions are drawn in
lifetime of IoT devices. 5G NR is beam-centric by Sect. 8.
extending beamforming and multi-antenna schemes from
data transmission to control-plane procedures and initial
access. 5G NR also ensures forward compatibility as it is 2 The 5G system architecture
prepared for its future evolution in use cases and tech-
nologies. Here, the introduction of mini-slots makes 5G NR The 5G NR architecture comprises next-generation RAN
able to guarantee low-latency requirements (e.g., for (NG-RAN) and 5G Core Network (5GC) [15], both
URLLC). described in the following subsections.
Finally, NR extends the LTE concept of carrier aggre-
gation by supporting the so-called Supplementary Uplink
(SUL). In contrast to carrier aggregation wherein each

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Table 1 Related works on 5G NR

Year Publication Brief description

2016 [4] The paper proposes a flexible physical-layer design based on OFDM with scalable numerology for all link types to satisfy
the 5G requirements and support various carrier frequencies and deployments.
2017 [1] The paper investigates the key features of the 5G NR air interface, such as waveforms, multiple access techniques, forward
compatibility, and advanced technologies to improve performance and efficiency.
2017 [3] The paper provides an overview of the key NR technology components including flexible numerology and frame structure,
massive MIMO, interworking between high and low frequencies, and ultra-lean communications.
2017 [12] The review focuses on the NR physical layer components: modulation schemes and channel coding, waveforms and frame
structure, reference signals, and multi-antenna transmissions.
2018 [6] The paper investigates multi-beam operation in NR systems by focusing on initial access and random access procedures,
system information, and synchronization mechanisms.
2018 [13] The paper overviews the 5G physical-layer technology by describing the fundamental NR concepts, such as waveform,
numerology, frame structure, modulation and coding, physical channels, and reference signals.
2018 [14] The paper overviews the 5G NR air interface improvements introduced by 3GPP Release 15 and focuses on the directional
access in mmWave-based NR systems, whose performance has been evaluated analytically and through simulations.
Our This article surveys NR by focusing on: the overall architecture of 5G NR and dual connectivity architecture options;
contributions innovations introduced by the NR technology in the user-/control-plane protocol stacks; first-order simulation-based
analysis regarding the impact of scalable numerology on 5G NR performance; future research directions by 3GPP.

2.1 The NG-RAN interconnects gNB-CUs of different gNBs. The gNB can
also consist of a gNB-CU control-plane (gNB-CU-CP),
The NG-RAN includes new generation LTE eNodeB (ng- multiple gNB-CU user-plane (gNB-CU-UPs), and multiple
eNB) and 5G NodeB (gNB), which are responsible for the gNB-DUs.
radio functions, e.g., RRM, admission and connection Figure 2 illustrates the overall architecture with sepa-
control, and Quality of Service (QoS) flow management. ration of the control-plane and the user-plane for the gNB-
The ng-eNB employs Evolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio CU (i.e., gNB-CU-CP and gNB-CU-UP) [16]. The gNB-
Access (E-UTRA) user-/control- plane protocols to serve CU-CP is connected to the gNB-DU through the F1-C
LTE User Equipements (UEs) and is connected to the 5GC interface. A gNB-CU-UP is connected to the gNB-DU
via the NG interface. through the F1-U interface and to only one gNB-CU-CP
Figure 1 depicts the NG-RAN architecture consisting of through the E1 interface. The gNB-CU-UP is connected to
a set of gNBs [16]. The gNB employs NR user-/control- only one gNB-CU-CP, to multiple gNB-CU-UPs and
plane protocols to serve NR UEs and is connected to the multiple gNB-DUs under the control of the same gNB-CU-
5GC via the NG interface and to other gNBs through the CP.
Xn interface. The NG-RAN offers new functions, such as: (i) network
The gNB consists of a central unit (i.e., gNB-CU) and slicing, (ii) contacting UEs in inactive mode, (iii) handover
one or more distributed units (i.e., gNB-DU). One gNB-DU between E-UTRA and NR via a direct interface between
is connected to only one gNB-CU via F1 interface. NG, eNB and gNB, (iv) handover between E-UTRA and NR via
Xn, and F1 are logical interfaces. The Xn-C interface core network (CN), (v) session management, and (vi) tight

Fig. 2 gNB architecture with separation of gNB-CU-CP and gNB-

Fig. 1 NG-RAN CU-UP

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interworking between NR and E-UTRA, and dual con- responsible of storage and retrieval of unstructured data by
nectivity [17]. In Sect. 2.3, we offer further details any network function, Network Data Analytics Function
regarding dual connectivity. (NWDAF) managing network analytics, Network Slice
Specific Authentication and Authorization Function
2.2 The 5G core network (NSSAAF) and Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)
in charge of Network Slicing, UE radio Capability Man-
Figure 3 shows the high-level representation of the 5GC. agement Function (UCMF) storing all UE Radio Capability
Detailed descriptions (i.e., reference architecture type, ID, 5G-Equipment Identity Register (5G-EIR) checking the
reference points, and point-to-point interactions between status of Permanent Equipment Identifier (PEI) (e.g.,
the functions) are provided in the specification [18]. whether it has been blacklisted), and CHarging Function
The 5GC follows a service-based architecture, supports (CHF) that manages charging information. Details of these
network slicing, and splits the user-plane and the control- functions can be found in [18].
plane. The User Plane Function (UPF) acts as a gateway to
connect the RAN to external networks. In certain cases, it 2.3 LTE/NR dual connectivity
also represents the anchor point for intra-/inter-Radio
Access Technology (RAT) mobility. UPF is responsible for Dual connectivity has been defined in LTE Release 12 [19]
packet routing, forwarding, and inspection, handling QoS, as the operation wherein at least two different eNBs, one
and managing traffic measurements. master node (MN) connected to a secondary node (SN),
Control Plane Functions (CPF) are as follows. The offer radio resources to a certain UE. Radio resource
Session Management Function (SMF) handles session aggregation improves per-user throughput and mobility
management and establishment, allocates IP addresses to robustness since UEs may be scheduled via multiple eNBs.
the UEs, facilitates roaming, and controls the UPF. The Different from LTE, NR dual connectivity operates for
Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) man- nodes belonging to two different RATs, that is, the gNB
ages registration, reachability, mobility, connection, and and the eNB provide NR and E-UTRA/NR access,
location services. AMF also handles access authentication respectively. This results in tight interworking between the
and authorization, and facilitates idle-state mobility. The two radio technologies and allows NR to gradually fit into
Non-Access Stratum (NAS) operates in-between the AMF the existing LTE networks. In fact, NR access network may
and the device, while the Access Stratum (AS) operates in- operate in two modes: non-standalone and standalone.
between the device and the RAN. Non-standalone operation offers the possibility to connect
Other types of functions and entities are: Unified Data NR in the existing LTE networks, thus speeding up the 5G
Management (UDM) that authenticates and authorizes roll-out. On the other hand, standalone operation expects
access, Policy Control Function (PCF) providing policy the connection of NR to the 5GC as well as that of LTE to
rules, Authentication Server Function (AUSF) handling the 5GC. Further details are provided in the next
authentication, Application Function (AF) influencing the subsection.
traffic routing, Network Exposure Function (NEF) provid-
ing secure information from external application to 3GPP 2.4 LTE-NR architecture options
network, Network Repository Function (NRF) supporting
service discovery function, Unified Data Repository (UDR) In Release 15 [17], 3GPP standardized a combined archi-
responsible of storage and retrieval of subscription data by tecture design. Table 2 demonstrates different options for
UDM, Unstructured Data Storage Function (UDSF) the two core networks, i.e., 5GC and Enhanced Packet

Fig. 3 High-level representation

of the 5G Core Network

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Table 2 LTE-NR combined architecture design – Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is used
DC architecture Core network MN SN Terminology
for control information, such as scheduling decisions.
– Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) is the
Option 1 EPC eNB – LTE/EPC main channel for unicast data transmissions regarding
Option 2 5GC gNB – NR/5GC paging, random access, and system information.
Option 3 EPC eNB gNB EN-DC – Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) carries
Option 4 5GC gNB eNB NE-DC information about hybrid-ARQ, received transport
Option 5 5GC eNB – eLTE blocks, channel state reports, and radio resource
Option 7 5GC eNB gNB NGEN-DC requests.
– Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) is the
counterpart to the PDSCH.
– Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) is used for
Core (EPC), and the two RATs, i.e., NG-RAN and Evolved random access.
Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN).
Option 1 represents the ‘‘legacy’’ LTE/EPC operation, The system operates from below 1 to 52.6 GHz in fre-
where the eNB is directly linked to the LTE core network. quency ranges FR1 and FR2 [20]. The choice of a fre-
In option 2, the gNB is directly linked to the 5GC in the quency range depends on the base station deployment. At
standalone mode. In non-standalone option 3, the NG-RAN lower frequencies, wider coverage areas are available (i.e.,
supports E-UTRAN-NR Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), macro-cells), whereas coverage is more limited at higher
where UE is connected to one eNB (MN) and one gNB frequencies (i.e., micro- and pico-cells). The licensed
(SN). The eNB is connected to the EPC via the S1 interface spectrum provides higher quality and reliability. In con-
and to the gNB via the X2 interface. The gNB can also be trast, the unlicensed spectrum complements by offering
connected to the EPC via the S1-U interface and other higher data rates and improved capacity. The main NR
gNBs via the X2-U interface. Various combinations of physical-layer components [12] are waveforms and scal-
eNB-5GC connections are in options 4, 5, and 7. In option able numerology, modulation schemes, frame structure,
4, the NG-RAN supports the NR-E-UTRAN Dual Con- multi-antenna transmission and beamforming, and refer-
nectivity (NE-DC); hence, the gNB (MN) is linked to the ence signals, which are described in the following
5GC and the eNB (SN). Options 5 and 7 are two variants of subsections.
LTE linked to 5GC. The architecture options 5 and 7 are
known as eLTE and NGEN-DC, respectively. 3.1 Waveform and scalable numerology
The NG-RAN also supports NR–NR Dual Connectivity
(NR-DC) when a gNB (MN) is linked to the 5GC and The 5G NR physical layer supports the Orthogonal Fre-
another gNB (SN). In addition, NR-DC can also be used quency Division Multiplexing with cyclic prefix (CP-
when a UE is connected to two gNB-DUs, one serving the OFDM) in the downlink and CP-OFDM and Discrete
Master Cell Group (MCG) and the other serving the Sec- Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP
ondary Cell Group (SCG), connected to the same gNB-CU, in the uplink. The scalable OFDM numerology introduced
acting both as an MN and as an SN. by NR specifies SCS, Transmission Time Interval (TTI),
CP, and the number of slots. In particular, higher
numerology indexes correspond to larger SCSs, ranging
3 NR physical layer from 15 and 480 kHz by following the equation:
Df ¼ 15kHz  2l ; ð1Þ
The NR physical layer [12] is in charge of uplink syn-
chronization and timing control, multiplexing and channel The numerology index l depends on various factors (i.e.,
coding, link adaptation, power control, random access service requirements, deployment type, carrier frequency,
procedures, multi-antenna mapping and processing, and etc.). The introduction of wider SCS is essential for miti-
beam management. It transfers information towards the gating inter-carrier interference (ICI) and phase noise at
higher layer (i.e. Medium Access Control or MAC) through mm-Wave frequencies. As SCS widens, the TTI assumes
transport channels as well as handles the mapping of smaller values ranging from 1 ms to 31.25 ls. Other
transport channels to physical channels. parameters also change from numerology to numerology.
The physical channels defined for NR are the following. Further details are provided in Table 3.
Bandwidth is managed in terms of physical resource
– Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) carries system blocks (PRBs), each consisting of 12 subcarriers with a
information for device access to the network. certain SCS. The number of PRBs depends on the channel

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Table 3 Scalable numerology.

l Df [KHz] TTI [ls] No. symbols per slot Cyclic prefix duration [ls]
[12]
0 15 1000 7, 14 4.69
1 30 500 7, 14 2.34
2 60 250 7, 14 1.17
3 120 125 2, 4, 7, 14 0.58
4 240 62.5 2, 4, 7, 14 0.29
5 480 31.25 2, 4, 7, 14 0.14

bandwidth and SCS that are specified for FR1 and FR2 symbol duration. On the other side, high numerologies with
[20]. a wider SCS increase the transmission rate by reducing the
Downlink and uplink transmissions occur when at least slot duration, thus offering lower latencies. Furthermore, a
one PRB is assigned to a UE. The radio resource allocation wide SCS is robust to the phase noise.
is managed by the gNB after performing the channel Conversely, wider carrier bandwidths cause device
sounding that acquires the knowledge of the radio channel energy consumption. To cope with it, and different from
characteristics. Each UE sends its radio channel informa- LTE where all devices monitor all of the channel band-
tion to the gNB in the Channel State Information (CSI) [21] width, in NR each device monitors only a portion of the
feedback. The CSI consists of the Channel Quality Indi- radio spectrum. When needed, the device can monitor the
cator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), CSI—ref- full bandwidth owing to the receiver-bandwidth adapta-
erence signal (RS) resource indicator (CRI), SS/PBCH tion. Receiving the full or a portion of carrier bandwidth is
Block Resource indicator (SSBRI), layer indicator (LI), the reason to introduce the concept of Bandwidth Part
rank indicator (RI), and/or L1-RSRP. (BWP), which is a fixed band over which transmissions
In particular, the CQI is associated with the maximum employ the same numerology. In [22] this is defined as a
supported Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS). Rmin;PRB subset of contiguous common resource blocks for a given
is the minimum data rate per PRBs expressed in kbps, numerology li in bandwidth part i on a given carrier. Two
which is computed as: possible configurations of sub-band size are eligible for
CR BWP [21]. The total bandwidth consists of several BWPs.
Rmin;PRB ¼  Morder  Nsymb  Nsubcarrier ; ð2Þ Furthermore, a BWP correlates the numerology and the
1024
scheduling mechanism. Indeed, the gNB can modify the
where CR is the code rate x 1024, Morder is the modulation UE numerology by changing the BWP through the BW
order (i.e., 2 for QPSK, 4 for 16-QAM, 6 for 64-QAM, and Adaptation. Although a UE can be configured with up to
8 for 256-QAM), Nsymb is the number of symbols that can four BWPs in the downlink and also in the uplink, each UE
assume values ranging from 2 to 14 (see Table 3), and can monitor a single active BWP to reduce power con-
Nsubcarrier ¼ 12 is the number of subcarriers in a PRB. sumption and prolong battery life, which is important for
Finally, Bl is the number of bits carried by a single PRB, IoT devices in mMTC-related use cases. Information about
which can be computed as: the active initial bandwidth part is obtained via the control
Rmin;PRB;bps Rmin;PRB  103 resource set (CORESET) configuration from the PBCH in
Bl ½bit ¼ ¼ ; ð3Þ the downlink, whereas information on the activated initial
Nslot;s 103  2l
uplink bandwidth part is transferred in the PDCCH.
where Rmin;PRB;bps is the minimum data rate per PRB
expressed in bps and Nslot;s is the number of slots per 3.2 Modulation schemes
second that depends on the numerology. As a consequence,
Bl is a function of the numerology. Hence, as the SCS The supported MCSs are QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, and
widens, each PRB contains fewer useful bits and more 256QAM in the downlink and for CP-OFDM in the uplink,
overhead with respect to the PRBs of lower numerology. and p/2-BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, and 256QAM
This develops robustness against the phase noise when for DFT-s-OFDM with CP in the uplink.
operating at extremely high frequencies.
The introduction of scalable numerology allows the 5G 3.3 Frame structure
NR to deliver dissimilar services while meeting associated
requirements. On one side, low numerologies with nar- The 5G NR frame structure supports Frequency Division
rower SCS are suitable to ensure wider cell coverage since Duplex (FDD) operating during transmissions in the paired
a narrow SCS is robust to delay spread owing to its longer spectrum, while Time Division Duplex (TDD) is used for

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the unpaired spectrum. Different from LTE where a sub- the device moves, and the beam recovery to handle the
frame consists of two slots having 7 OFDM symbols, in 5G beam pair failure in the case of rapid environmental
NR a subframe is formed by adjacent slots, each com- changes. Hence, the complete beam management func-
prising 7 or 14 OFDM symbols for SCS  60 kHz and 2, 4, tionality establishes, monitors, adjusts, and recovers the
7, or 14 OFDM symbols for SCS  120 kHz. The 3GPP beam pair to allow for communication at higher
standardized 255 symbol combinations, each correspond- frequencies.
ing to a slot format identified by an index (i.e., slot format However, beamforming procedures are critical con-
index) [23]. Its OFDM symbols can be designated as cerning the spectral efficiency and reliable coverage.
downlink, uplink, or flexible. A downlink symbol is used Therefore, an accurate design of the above mentioned
only in the downlink direction, while no uplink transmis- procedures is essential to meet the stringent reliability
sion occurs in the same time period. On the contrary, an requirements of URLLC.
uplink symbol is exploited for the uplink without any
overlapping transmission in the downlink. Flexible sym- 3.5 Reference signals
bols can be adapted for transmissions in the downlink or in
the uplink. In NR, reference signals are transmitted only if necessary;
5G NR considers mini-slots to be the smallest schedul- they are as follows:
ing units of 2, 4, or 7 symbols, which are especially
– Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) is UE-specific
important for URLLC. The URLLC transmissions are
and measures the radio channel for demodulation to
managed with the highest priority by puncturing the 1 ms
support multiple-layer MIMO transmission and low-
subframe for a mini-slot duration. This enables dynamic
latency applications.
scheduling. In the case of extremely low-latency services,
– Phase-Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) is UE-speci-
the transmission start is not limited to a slot but can occur
fic and exploited at mmWave frequencies to mitigate
whenever the radio channel is not occupied by another
the phase noise causing phase rotation of subcarriers in
transmission.
an OFDM signal. PTRS compensates for the oscillator
phase noise.
3.4 Multi-antenna transmission
– Channel-State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS)
and beamforming
is received by the UE to evaluate the channel; further,
the channel quality information is transferred to the
Since 5G NR extends the operating frequency range by
gNB.
comprising the frequency bands below 7 GHz (i.e., FR1)
– Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) is transmitted by the
and in the range from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz (i.e., FR2),
UE to help the gNB in estimating the CSI for
different antenna solutions and techniques need to be
scheduling and link adaptation. SRS is also utilized
employed depending on the utilized spectrum. For lower
for reciprocity in massive MIMO and UL beam
frequencies, up to a moderate number of antennas can be
management.
activated (i.e., 32). In higher frequency bands, the trans-
– Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) is a new reference
mission is characterized by a considerable signal attenua-
signal that supports DL-based positioning. The UE
tion that limits the network coverage. To overcome this
reports the times of arrival of PRSs transmitted by
limitation, one of the key features is the adoption of a large
multiple base stations; in such a way, the location
number of multi-antenna elements having a given aperture
server is able to determine the UE position.
to increase the transmission/reception capability of multi-
– Primary synchronization signal (PSS) is a physical
user MIMO (MU-MIMO) and beamforming.
layer-specific signal that helps the UE to get radio
Since managing transmissions in higher frequency
frame boundary and to detect the cell identity (ID).
bands is complicated, beam management is necessary to
– Secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is a physical
establish the correspondence between the directions of the
layer-specific signal that, in addition to the PSS, helps
transmitter—and the receiver-side beams by identifying the
the UE to detect the cell ID group.
most suitable beam pair for both downlink and uplink. 5G
NR offers a new type of beam management, wherein the
BS sweeps the candidate radio transmitter beams sequen-
tially in time, while the UE maintains an appropriate radio
receiver beam to activate the reception of the selected radio
transmitter beam. To achieve this, beam management
consists of the initial beam establishment to find the first
beam pair, the beam adjustment to adapt the beam pair as

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– Broadcast Channel (BCH), which is used for the

transmission of Master Information Block (MIB) that
is a part of the BCCH system information.
– Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH), which is the
main channel for downlink data transmission in NR and
supports its key features, such as dynamic rate adap-
tation and channel-dependent scheduling.
– Paging Channel (PCH), which carries paging informa-
tion from the PCCH channel by saving the battery
power of the devices supporting discontinuous recep-
tion (DRX).
The uplink transport channels are:
Fig. 4 User-plane protocol stack architecture – Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH), which is the main
channel for uplink data transmission.
4 User-plane protocols – Random Access Channel (RACH), which is another
transport channel even though it does not carry
The user-plane protocols [24] facilitate the actual Packet transport blocks.
Data Unit (PDU) session service by transporting user data Figure 5 depicts the mapping among physical, transport,
through the radio access layer. Figure 4 shows the user- and logical channels in both uplink and downlink
plane protocol stack architecture. directions.
The MAC layer is responsible for multiplexing/demul-
4.1 Medium access control (MAC) tiplexing, for managing different numerologies and
scheduling, for hybrid-ARQ retransmissions, and for han-
The MAC layer provides a connection to the Layer 2 dling the priority between the UEs via dynamic scheduling.
Radio-Link Control (RLC) layer through various logical Extended MAC functionality is introduced by 5G NR: e.g.,
channels, each characterized by the type of the transferred the MAC PDU is changed. MAC elements used for control
information. The control logical channels are: signaling are at the beginning of the MAC PDU in the
– Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH), which transmits downlink and the end of the MAC PDU in the uplink.
system information to all the network devices in the Hence, the NR MAC layer header structure is more effi-
case of standalone operation. For non-standalone oper- cient in supporting low-latency requirements.
ations, there is no BCCH because the system informa- The procedure for creating MAC PDUs is known as
tion is provided by the LTE system. Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP). In NR, there is also a
– Paging Control Channel (PCCH), which is used for need for LCP enhancement due to scalable numerology and
paging the devices when their location is unknown by TTIs, each suited for a specific service type. The LCP
the network in the case of standalone operation. For handles the mapping of a logical channel onto certain
non-standalone operations, there is no PCCH because numerology/TTI and includes URLLC traffic prioritization.
paging is provided by the LTE system. Owing to the latter, URLLC applications are delivered as
– Common Control Channel (CCCH), which transmits soon as they are requested, thus allowing to meet the
control information under random access regime. reliability and very low latency requirements of URLLC
– Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH), which is the services. Hence, LCP aims to let the MAC entity learn the
logical channel used for transmission of the control numerology/TTI from the PHY layer.
information to and from a device. Beyond improved PDU format, the NR MAC layer
adopts new scheduling request (SR) functionality. The SR
The logical channel related to traffic is Dedicated Traffic
is utilized to request the UL-SCH resources to establish a
Channel (DTCH), which is used for the data transmission
data transmission. Different from LTE SR, where a UE
to and from a device over a unicast link in the downlink or
supports only one SR resource, the NR MAC entity is
uplink, respectively. The PHY layer provides its services to
configured such that a UE may support zero, one, or more
the MAC layer through the transport channels. A transport
SR configurations, each consisting of multiple PUCCH
channel refers to how the information is transferred over
resources for different BWPs and corresponding to one or
the radio interface.
more logical channels. A logical channel is configured to
The downlink transport channels are:
support only one PUCCH resource for SR per BWP.

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5182 Wireless Networks (2021) 27:5173–5188

Fig. 5 Channels mapping

The SR configuration/resource of the logical channel transmissions, reordering, and detection of duplicates dur-
that has triggered a Buffer Status reporting (BSR), which ing handover. The re-ordering functionality is moved from
provides information about uplink data volume in the MAC RLC to PDCP in NR. The PDCP layer is also in charge of
entity to the serving gNB, is considered as the corre- ciphering, deciphering, and integrity protection, as well as
sponding SR configuration/resource for the triggered SR. duplication, which is a new PDCP function. Accordingly,
Each logical channel may be allocated to a Logical user packets are re-transmitted to the gNB several times
Channel Group (LCG), while the maximum number of such that at least one copy is received correctly. If more
LCGs is increased to eight for NR as opposed to 4 LCGs than a single copy of the same PDU is received, the PDCP
supported by LTE. removes any duplicates. PDCP duplication is also used
(i) in case of transmission via multiple cells to meet high-
4.2 Radio link control (RLC) reliability requirements of URLLC and (ii) in dual-con-
nectivity scenarios.
The RLC layer handles data transfer and is mainly based on
the LTE RLC. It offers three transmission options: 4.4 Service data adaptation protocol (SDAP)
(i) Transparent Mode (TM), (ii) Unacknowledged Mode
(UM), and (iii) Acknowledged Mode (AM). RLC also The challenge of meeting various QoS requirements of
performs segmentation by considering the sequence num- dissimilar services and use cases has already been
ber and the segment offset, transfers upper-layer PDUs, addressed by LTE. However, QoS handling in NR needs
corrects errors via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), and to be improved under network slicing. Hence, a new user-
detects protocol errors. plane protocol layer, namely, Service Data Adaptation
Different from LTE RLC, NR RLC does not order the Protocol (SDAP), was defined to manage QoS when
Service Data Units (SDUs) in sequence to reduce the connected to the 5GC. Each PDU session thus consists of
overall latency; hence, packets can be forwarded towards QoS flows and data radio bearers. The IP packets are
the upper layers without waiting for re-transmissions of associated with the QoS flows according to their
previously missing packets. Furthermore, to meet the NR requirements, and are labeled with an identifier, i.e., QoS
latency requirements extremely important for URLLC Flow Identifier (QFI). Hence, SDAP provides the map-
applications, the RLC does not support concatenation (now ping of a QoS flow from the 5GC and a data radio bearer,
introduced at the MAC layer), differently from LTE. As a while marking the QFI.
result, NR RLC PDUs can be assembled before receiving The correspondence between QoS flows and data radio
the scheduling decision. Once the latter is made, the PDUs bearers in the uplink is as follows. Explicit mapping con-
are transferred to the MAC layer immediately. On the other siders the configuration from the QoS flow to the data radio
hand, LTE RLC PDUs are assembled and then forwarded bearer in the device through RRC signaling. Alternatively,
to the lower layer. reflective mapping is a novel NR functionality when con-
nected to the 5GC. Here, a device observes the QFI in the
4.3 Packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) downlink by inferring which IP packets are associated with
a QoS flow and a data radio bearer.
The PDCP layer is in charge of header compression
and decompression, user data transfer, handling re-

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Wireless Networks (2021) 27:5173–5188 5183

Fig. 6 Control-plane protocol

stack architecture

5 Control-plane protocols – SRB3: exploits the DCCH logical channel for particular
RRC messages when UE operates in dual-connectivity
The control-plane protocols [24] establish PDU sessions mode.
and manage connections between the UE and the network The SRB1 and SRB2 are also used in NR for integrity
mindful of service requests, transmission resources, and protection and ciphering as well as support the split of SRB
handover occurrences. for all Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) options.
Figure 6 shows the control-plane protocol stack The latter is not available for SRB0 and SRB3. Further, the
architecture. SRB split and SRB3 are the two new features introduced
The control-plane stack has the same protocol layers— by NR on top of LTE.
PHY, MAC, RLC, and PDCP—as described in Sect. 4.
The protocol layer having solely control-plane func-
tionality is Radio Resource Control (RRC), which operates 6 Performance evaluation of 5G NR
between a device and its gNB. It handles the paging pro-
cedure initiated by 5GC or NG-RAN. RRC also estab- The below simulation results were obtained with our
lishes, maintains, and releases the RRC connection MATLAB tool that follows 3GPP guidelines on scenarios
between a UE and NG-RAN by including security func- and requirements for the 5G NR technology [25]. The main
tions (i.e., key management), mobility functions (i.e., simulation parameters are listed in Table 4.
handover, UE cell selection and reselection, inter-RAT In this work, we characterize the performance in terms
mobility), and QoS management functions. The RRC also of peak data rate and peak spectral efficiency for different
helps detect and recover from radio link failures. Each NR numerologies (i.e., l ¼ 0; 1; 2; 3) and under varying chan-
device supports three RRC states, two of which—IDLE nel bandwidth1 when delivering eMBB services in a 5G
and CONNECTED—are the same as in LTE. Moreover, NR system. For the sake of completeness, we also evaluate
NR introduces INACTIVE as an intermediate state the performance in terms of energy consumption and reli-
between IDLE and CONNECTED to reduce the energy ability for specified numerologies under varying CQIs
consumption and prolong the battery life of IoT and when performing mMTC and URLLC, respectively. The
mMTC-related devices. Further information on RRC state selected parameters were evaluated by considering the
transitions can be found in [24]. With NR, the transmission transmission bandwidth configuration for both FR1 and
of messages between RRC and NAS layer occurs owing to FR2 [20]. Further, we computed the number of useful bits
Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs), which are: per PRB for each numerology by considering the CQI-
– SRB0: exploits the CCCH logical channel for RRC MSC mapping parameters in [21]. The motivation behind
messages; this performance analysis is to understand how scalable
– SRB1: exploits the DCCH logical channel for both numerology affects the volume of data carried by a single
RRC and NAS messages before establishing SRB2; PRB.
– SRB2: exploits the DCCH logical channel for NAS 1
It is worth noting that in 3GPP Release 16 of NR [20], the number
messages and has a lower priority than SRB1;
of PRBs is specified for numerologies from 0 to 3, whereas the
number of PRBs for numerologies 4 and 5 is not available in that
release.

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Table 4 Simulation Parameters

Parameter Value

Cell layout Hexagonal grid

Inter-site distance 500 m
Scheduling frame 10 ms
l 0, 1, 2, 3
TTI 1 ms, 0.5 ms, 0.25 ms, 0.125 ms
RB size 12 sub-carriers
Sub-carrier spacing 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 KHz
Component carrier 1
Modulation order 8 (256-QAM)
CQI 15
Tx direction Downlink
Number of OFDM symbols 14
Number of UE 100

Fig. 8 Peak data rate for a FR1 and b FR2

bandwidth, as shown in Fig. 8. This is because the number

Fig. 7 Useful bits per PRB under varying CQI
of PRBs per TTI becomes lower due to wider SCS with
From this perspective, Fig. 7 indicates the number of higher numerology. Under increasing channel bandwidth,
useful bits per PRB (computed as in Eq. 3) for different the peak data rate follows a growing trend due to more
TTI durations according to the selected numerology when available PRBs.
varying the UE channel conditions. As expected, in all When considering higher numerologies, a consequence
cases, the parameter of interest increases with the CQI of the peak data rate decrease is the reduction in terms of
level, whereas the number of useful bits decreases, for a peak spectral efficiency in a TTI, as shown in Fig. 9.
given CQI, when considering higher numerologies. Actually, considering higher frequencies leads to more
Reducing the end-to-end latency is possible by operating pronounced path-loss. Since the signal is attenuated and
at higher frequencies and under high numerologies, distorted during the propagation on higher frequencies,
wherein OFDM symbol duration is shorter and, conse- more overhead bits are needed to compensate for these
quently, the SCS is wider. Higher frequency also displays effects. This means that the radio spectrum is not fully
more pronounced path-loss degradation: as the signal is exploited for the delivery of useful data, hence, a reduction
attenuated and distorted during its propagation at higher in the system spectral efficiency is shown.
frequencies, wider SCS is required to compensate for the Figure 10 indicates the energy consumption required for
observed effect. Conversely, the peak data rate per TTI receiving a certain number of bits per RB depending on
decreases for high numerologies when considering fixed both CQI and numerology. It can be noticed that the curve

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Wireless Networks (2021) 27:5173–5188 5185

follows a growing trend for all numerologies. This, indeed,

depends on the number of transmitted/received bits, which
increases when adopting less robust modulation schemes
(i.e., higher MCS). On the other hand, for even higher
numerologies, the number of transmitted/received bits is
lower, and consequently, the energy consumed by devices
decreases. Therefore, for mMTC, the choice of the
appropriate numerology can be made according to the
requirements of energy consumption and battery life.
Figure 11 provides a measure of the reliability intended,
according to [25], as the success probability of transmitting
a data packet within a certain delay. Generally, the relia-
bility requirement is dependent of deployment and opera-
tion scenario. We show in Fig. 11 the reliability [%] for a
general URLLC traffic by considering a 32 bytes packet
[25]. We simulated that the transmission occurs in a TTI
depending on the numerology as shown in Table 3. The
reliability for the correct reception of the transmitted data
grows when increasing the CQI and decreases when con-
sidering even higher numerology. However, it is worth
noting that we considered the slot duration specified by
each numerology and only one PRB. Therefore, to achieve
100% of reliability with all values of CQI and numerology,
14 PRBs are needed in a mini-slot lasting 0.125 ms (i.e.,
l ¼ 2). This allows to satisfy the reliability and low-la-
tency requirements of URLLC and does not give rise to
concern since NR extends the radio spectrum; indeed, with
the FR2 a channel bandwidth up to 400 MHz (i.e., 264
PRBs) is possible.
By analyzing the obtained results, we establish that:
(i) lower numerologies are better suited for eMBB services
with their higher volumes of data and without the stringent
requirements in terms of latency; (ii) higher numerologies
Fig. 9 Peak spectral efficiency for a FR1 and b FR2 satisfy the requirement of (ultra-)low latency, which is
essential for URLLC, at the expense of some reduction in

Fig. 10 Energy consumption in a TTI under varying CQI

Fig. 11 Reliability under varying CQI

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5186 Wireless Networks (2021) 27:5173–5188

the peak data rate; (iii) higher numerologies can also be – NR above 52.6 GHz: possibility to extend the frequency
exploited at higher frequencies while lower numerologies bands up to 114 GHz by studying suitable waveforms.
suit lower frequencies since the number of useful bits per The spectrum falling in the range between 130 GHz and
PRB delivered in a TTI decreases under higher 300 GHz is known as sub-THz and between 300 GHz
numerologies. As an example, a typical URLLC trans- and 3 THz as THz band. THz communications pave the
mission comprising of few bits (e.g., data exchange way to 6G owing to the capability to achieve elevated
between sensors of vehicles for collision avoidance), may datarates and extreme capacity in short distance [27].
occur at higher frequencies, which allows satisfying However, THz communications suffer from high signal
latency requirements but demands a wider SCS to mitigate attenuation due to path loss and molecular absorption
the phase noise effect. thus needing innovative solutions, such as Intelligent
Reflecting Surfaces (IRS) [28].
– Multi-SIM operation: specification enhancements, espe-
7 Open challenges and future research cially in the area of paging coordination, for the more
directions efficient and predictable operation of high numbers of
multi-SIM devices. Due to the current lack of unified
The 5G NR technology revolutionizes the previous radio solutions for multi-SIM operation, several critical
technology while maintaining compatibility with LTE and issues must be addressed such as ongoing service
is designed forward compatible with future technologies. interruption, unwanted resource wastage, misleading
The main NR features have been thought to support several assumption of reachability, and collision of paging
types of services with different requirements, such as occasions.
extreme data rates, elevated reliability, and very low – NR multicast broadcast: support for multicast trans-
latency. missions by focusing on single-cell multicast function-
The global market becomes increasingly demanding and ality with the evolution towards multi-cell. Mechanisms
is directed towards new use cases that will characterize the for the multi-cell coordination are essential to support
future radio technology. In [26], the ITU identifies the Single Frequency Network (SFN) transmissions. Fur-
following main categories: Holographic Type Communi- thermore, modification to the NR protocol stack are
cations (HTC) to holographically reproduce subjects in required to enable the NR mixed mode (i.e., the
remote places; Multi-Sense Networks to live fully immer- coexistence of unicast and multicast) [29].
sive experiences; Time Engineered Applications to allow – NR for Non-Terrestrial Networks: defining the require-
sensors to autonomously and quickly react in front of ments as well as the candidate layer 1 solutions and
unpredictable events without human intervention; and their implications. NR protocols need to be adapted to:
Critical Infrastructure to ensure safety anywhere and compensate for the Doppler effect due to the satellite
anytime. In this regard, one of the main challenges is to motion, manage the long propagation delay, handle the
adapt NR as much as possible in order to be able to meet fast sweep of satellite footprints across the ground, and
the more stringent requirements of new applications improve the link budget.
unthinkable until now. Furthermore, new approaches for efficient radio resource
The mainstream specification work on Release 17 is management are needed to overcome the issue of inter-
ongoing. There are multiple areas to be considered and, numerology interference when dissimilar services are
realistically, only a subset of them (about 20–30%) can be demanded and multiple numerologies are supported in the
addressed. On the one hand, many items are completely NR system. Finally, innovative techniques of puncturing
new, whereas several of those have already been specified are essential to handle different traffic request by giving
in earlier releases and are to be expanded in Release 17. priority to URLLC services.
The more innovative topics are the following:
– NR Light: improved operation of mid-tier NR devices
(e.g., higher-end MTC devices like security cameras, 8 Conclusions
wearables, etc.), which includes the power saving
aspects. Indeed, among the new use cases that will be In this article, we surveyed the main 5G NR system design
considered, there is the support of devices with reduced features with the topics covering the key innovative aspects
capabilities for IoT or MTC use cases requiring fast introduced in the system architecture and protocol stack
data speeds but being also less expensive than the 5G (i.e., physical layer, user-/control-plane protocols). This
NR devices deployed today. information is representative of the latest Releases 16 of
the 38th series of 3GPP specifications. Furthermore, we

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Wireless Networks (2021) 27:5173–5188 5187

assessed the system performance by analyzing the results life modeling approach. IEEE INFOCOM 2019 - IEEE Confer-
of system-level simulations. Based on these results, we ence on Computer Communications, pp. 2134–2142.
11. Makki, B., Chitti, K., Behravan, A., & Alouini, M.-S. (2020). A
projected useful considerations regarding the impact of survey of NOMA: current status and open research challenges.
scalable numerology on the 5G NR performance. Finally, IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, 1, 179–189.
open challenges and future research directions were briefly 12. Zaidi, A., Baldemair, R., Faxér, S., Molés-Cases, V., & Wang, Z.
outlined. (2017). Designing for the future: the 5G NR Physical Layer.
Ericsson Technology Review.
13. Lin, X., Li, J., Baldemair, R., Cheng, T., Parkvall, S., Larsson, D.,
et al. (2019). 5G new radio: unveiling the essentials of the next
Funding Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi generation wireless access technology. IEEE Communications
Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria within the CRUI-CARE Agreement. Standards Magazine, 3(3), 30–37.
14. Sanfilippo, G., Galinina,O., Andreev, S., Pizzi, S., & Araniti, G.
(2018). A concise review of 5G new radio capabilities for
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons directional access at mmWave frequencies. Internet of Things,
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, smart spaces, and next generation networks and systems,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as pp. 340–354. Springer.
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the 15. 3GPP (2020). TS 38.300; NR; NR and NG-RAN overall
source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate description, Stage 2; Rel. 16. 3GPP: Sophia Antipolis Valbonne,
if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this France.
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless 16. 3GPP (2021). TS 38.401; NG-RAN; Architecture description;
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not Rel. 16. 3GPP: Sophia Antipolis Valbonne, France.
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended 17. 3GPP (2020). TS 37.340; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted Access (E-UTRA) and NR; Multi-connectivity; Stage 2; Rel. 16.
use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright 3GPP: Sophia Antipolis Valbonne, France.
holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons. 18. 3GPP (2020). TS 23.501; System architecture for the 5G system;
org/licenses/by/4.0/. Rel. 16. 3GPP: Sophia Antipolis Valbonne, France.
19. 3GPP (2014). TR 36.842; Study on small cell enhancements for
E-UTRA and E-UTRAN; Higher layer aspects; Rel.12. 3GPP:
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Federica Rinaldi is a Research working as a Research Fellow and then, from 2019 as a Lecturer. His
Assistant at University research interests include wireless networks optimization, software-
Mediterranea of Reggio Cal- defined networking, cognitive radio and heterogeneous networks.
abria, Italy, where she received
the Ph.D. in Information Engi- Sara Pizzi is an assistant profes-
neering in 2021. Her current sor in Telecommunications at
research interests include Non- University Mediterranea of
Terrestrial Networks (NTN), Reggio Calabria, Italy, where
integrated terrestrial-NTN sys- she received the Ph.D. degree
tems, RRM for multicast/ (2009) in Computer, Biomedical
broadcast service delivery, and and Telecommunication Engi-
D2D in 5G/B5G networks. neering. Her current research
interests focus on NTN, RRM
for multicast service delivery,
D2D and MTC over 5G/B5G
networks.
Alessandro Raschellà received
the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in
Telecommunications Engineer-
ing from the University
Mediterranea of Reggio Cal-
abria (UNIRC), Italy in 2004
and 2007, respectively, and the
Ph.D. degree in Wireless Com-
munications from the Universi-
tat Politècnica de Catalunya
(UPC), Barcelona, Spain in
2015. From 2007 to 2009, he
was a research assistant with
UNIRC. He joined the School of
Computer Science and Mathe-
matics of Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), UK in 2015,

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