5G Wireless Network Principles

5G Wireless Network Principles

5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality service need very high speed

 mMTC: Internet of Everything

 Automatic Driving Requirements for Ultra-Low Latency

5G Wireless Network Principles

 5G performance requirement is higher than 4G, including the capability to support 0.1 ~ 1Gbps user
experience speed, 1 million connection density per kilometer square, milisecond level of end-to-end
latency, Tbps level of traffic flow density per kilometer square, mobility of 500km/h, all of these make up
to the top 3 key performance indicator of 5G network (user experience, connection density and latency).
Meanwhile, 5G is required to improve the efficiency of network deployment and operation &
maintenance. To compare with 4G, the spectrum efficiency improved 5 ~ 15 times, and the cost
efficiency improved more than hundred times.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Frequency factor is the main difference between high-frequency channel with traditional cellular network.
Path loss of high frequency transmission in LOS (line-of-sight) environment increases with the increment
of frequency range. According to ITU-R P.525: calculation of free-space attenuation, with the frequency
spectrum changed from 2GHz to 28GHz, 39GHz or 70GHz, the extra path loss will be 22.9dB, 25.8dB
and 30.9dB
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Supplementary uplink (SUL): used for UL and DL decoupling

 Supplementary downlink (SDL): used for downlink high traffic scenario

5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 ΔFGlobal is the interval of each frequency grid. In 5G, the interval of the frequency grid is not a fixed
value and is related to the specific frequency band.
 The following uses the ARFCN 384000 as an example to describe the frequency calculation rule.
In this case, {0 MHz + 0.005 MHz x (384000-0)} =1920 MHz, which indicates the frequency
1920MHz.
384020 indicates the frequency (1920 MHz+100 KHz). The rest may be deduced by analogy.
 ARFCN: absolute radio frequency channel number
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
Overview of 5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 SMF： Session Management function

 PCF： Policy Function
 AF： Application Function
 UDM： Unified Data Management
 AMF： Access and Mobility Management function
 AUSF： Authentication Server
 UE： Data Network,
 UPF ： User plane function
 DN： Data Network
5G Wireless Network Principles

 NGC main function：

 AMF：

 Uplink NAS signaling processing

 NAS signaling security
 AS security
 3GPP inter-RAT operation
 UE behavior id idle mode
 UE location management
 UE access management
 …
 SMF：

 Session management
 UE IP address allocation
 Service UPF control
 QoS and police control
 Downlink data arrived notification
 …..
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The 5G radio access network is called NR-RAN, and the corresponding NE is gNodeB. The main
functions of the gNodeB are similar to those of the eNodeB:

 Radio resource management, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, mobility
control, and dynamic scheduling

 User-plane data header compression and encryption

 AMF selection during UE attach

 Data route to UPF

 Routing of NAS messages and broadcast messages

 Measurement report configuration management

5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 3GPP R15 phase1.1 （2017.12） support Option3

5G Wireless Network Principles

 At the early stage of 5G, we recommend the Option3 series architecture for networking, which can reuse
the existing LTE network coverage advantages and provide signaling plane connections to solve the 4G
and 5G interoperability problems caused by discontinuous coverage at the early stage of 5G
deployment. Based on the features of the three solutions, the Option3X solution is used in the early
stage of NSA networking.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Provides UL low-band spectrum for NR to enable the UL and DL Decoupling feature, which improves
NR UL coverage.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

Slicing is a huge transformation of 5G networks for service support. Slicing is the E2E resource allocation
and function deployment that meet service SLA requirements.

5G introduces the slice architecture for on-demand resource allocation, enabling new services to be
deployed without network upgrade.

SOC: Service Oriented Core

5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The main functions of the control plane are as follows:

 RLC and MAC layers: same as those of the user plane

 PDCP layer: encryption and integrity protection

 RRC layer: broadcast, paging, RRC connection management, resource control, mobility
management, and UE measurement report control

 NAS layer: core network bearer management, authentication, and security control

 The main functions of the user plane are as follows:

 Header compression, encryption, scheduling, and ARQ/HARQ

 Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer: a new layer of the 5G user plane
5G Wireless Network Principles

 NR introduces the RRC inactive state, which simplifies the RRC state transition procedure and reduces
the service delay. The RLC, MAC, and PHY layers are suspended when switched from the connected
state to the inactive state. When resumed, the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers need to be re-established.

 The RRC layer provides the following functions:

 System message broadcast

 NAS message

 UE information in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE, such as cell reselection parameters and

common channel configuration information

 Paging

 ETWS and CMAS notification (currently in further study, not frozen)

 RRC connection control

 …

 For more information about the RRC layer, see 3GPP TS 38.311.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The buffering function is added to the PDCP layer.

 Encryption algorithm：

 128-NIA1/NEA1：128-bit SNOW 3G

 128-NIA2/NEA2：128-bit AES

 128-NIA3/NEA3：128-bit ZUC
5G Wireless Network Principles

 In 5G, the RLC layer does not provide the concatenation function. The concatenation function is
implemented by the MAC layer. CD/DU separation flexibility and hardware R&D convenience are
considered. For more details, see the R2-168049 proposal.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The basic physical layer process of 5G is similar to that of LTE, but differences lie in the process of
coding, modulation, and resource mapping.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 LDPC coding efficiency could reach 92.5%

 In eMBB scenarios, the preliminary conclusion is as follows:

 Control channels: Polar code

 Data channels transmitting big data blocks: LDPC code

5G Wireless Network Principles

 5G is compatible with LTE modulation schemes and also introduces higher-order modulation schemes,
further improving spectral efficiency.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Compared with LTE spectral efficiency of 90%, F-OFDM can increase 5G spectral efficiency to 95% or
higher.
5G Wireless Network Principles
Overview of 5G Wireless Network Principles

 When BF is not used, the position of the beam shape and energy intensity is fixed. If the user is on the
edge of the cell, the signal strength is low.

 After BF is used, the transmit power and phase of each antenna array are adjusted by weighting the
signal, and the beam shape is changed, so that the main lobe is aligned with the user, and signal
strength is improved.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 NR and LTE use the same OFDMA architecture. The description dimensions of physical resources are
basically the same.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The small slot can reduce the delay

5G Wireless Network Principles

 The distribution and length of FDD radio frames and subframes are consistent with those of LTE. The
number of slots per subframe is configured based on the subcarrier bandwidth.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The 3GPP TS 38.211 R15 introduces the flexible Numerology, which defines the bandwidth of different
subcarriers. The bandwidth of different subcarriers corresponds to the frame structure of the time
domain.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 LTE supports only the 15 kHz subcarrier. 5G subcarrier bandwidth and number of slots can be flexibly
configured to support various types of services.

 In the future, Mini Slot with two to three symbols will be introduced to support ultra-low latency service
requirements.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Flexible timeslot includes DL, UL and GP.

 A new frame structure is introduced in 5G to shorten the downlink feedback delay and uplink scheduling
delay to meet the requirements of ultra-low latency services.
5G Wireless Network Principles

The subcarrier bandwidth of a 5G RE changes from 15 kHz to 2μx15 kHz (determined by the spectrum
bandwidth).
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Compared with LTE, 5G does not use the PCFICH or PHICH

 The PDCCH is used to transmit downlink control information (DCI). The DCI carried by the
PDCCH includes the following three types of information: Downlink grant ， Uplink grant ，
Power control command

 The demodulation reference signals (DMRSs) related to the PDSCH are transmitted through antenna
port 1000 or above.

 The DMRSs related to the PDCCH are transmitted through antenna port 2000 or above.

 The CSI-RSs are transmitted through antenna port 3000 or above.

 The SS/PBCH blocks are transmitted through antenna port 4000 or above.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 The difference between signals and channels lies in that signals exist only at the physical layer, and the
reference signal is used by the receiver to demodulate the subsequent data.

 CRS is no longer used in 5G. The purpose is to reduce overhead, avoids inter-cell CRS interference,
and improves spectral efficiency.

 The PT-RS reference signal is added for phase alignment in high-band scenarios.

 RS design in LTE: CRS is the core. All RSs are bound to Cell-IDs. CSI-RS is introduced in R10 and is
supported by few terminals.

 NR RS design: CRS free. RS function regrouping

 All RSs except PSS/SSS are decoupled from Cell-IDs.

 PSS/SSS can be transmitted using narrow beams after beamforming.

 Both control channels and data channels use DMRS demodulation.

 DMRS types, the number of ports, and configuration are enhanced.

 The CSI-RS Pattern and configuration are enhanced. They are used for RRM, CSI acquisition,
beam management, and refined time-frequency tracking.

 PT-RS is added for phase tracking in high-band scenarios.

5G Wireless Network Principles
Overview of 5G Wireless Network Principles

 Scrambling: randomizes information bits to utilize the decoding performance of channel coding.

 Modulation mapper: modulates the scrambled code words to generate complex-value modulation
symbols.

 Layer mapper: maps complex-value modulation symbols onto one or more transmit layers.

 Antenna port mapper: maps modulation symbols in each transmit layer to a corresponding antenna port
(downlink coding depends on implementation and is not described in protocols).

 Resource element mapper: maps complex-value modulation symbols of each antenna port onto
corresponding REs.

 OFDM signal generation: Each antenna port generates OFDM signals.

5G Wireless Network Principles

 Unlike LTE, NR PUSCH supports 256QAM.

5G Wireless Network Principles

 The PT-RS reference signal is added in the uplink, which is used for phase alignment in high-frequency
scenarios.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

NSA: The NR has no independent control plane but only the user plane
MSA (Multiple Stream Aggregation): The terminal may use multiple base stations of the same or different
standards to perform data transmission.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Basic signaling procedures in SA networking include:

 System information broadcast is the first step for a UE to obtain the basic network service
information. Through the system information broadcast procedure, the UE can obtain the basic
access stratum (AS) and non-access stratum (NAS) information.

 (Optional) When the network needs to set up a connection with a UE, it initiates a paging
procedure to locate the UE. This procedure involves only the terminating UE, not the originating
UE.

 Random access starts when a UE sends an RA preamble and ends when an RRC connection is
set up between the UE and the network.

 RRC connection management includes RRC connection setup, reconfiguration, release, and
reestablishment between a UE and a gNodeB, as well as uplink out-of-synchronization
management, and UE inactivity management.

 Context management：After an RRC connection is set up, the gNodeB sends an INITIAL UE
MESSAGE to the 5GC to trigger the NG-C connection setup and receive the UE context. Context
management includes UE context setup, modification, and release.

 PDU session management：A PDU session is a data connection between a UE and a data
network (DN). PDU session management includes PDU session setup, modification, and release.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 PSS/SSS and PBCH are broadcast through dedicated channel.

 RMSI/OSI is scheduled on the PDSCH.

5G Wireless Network Principles

 The SSB period for the initial cell search is 20 ms. SSBs are transmitted within 5 ms.

 The PBCH period is 80 ms, and the SSBs are transmitted for four times within 80 ms.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 System information can be classified into minimum system information (MSI) and other system
information (OSI) by content.

 MSI includes the master information block (MIB) and system information block 1 (SIB1). The MIB
provides the information used to capture SIB1, and the SIB1 provides basic information required by cell
selection when a UE initially accesses the network.

 OSI includes SIB2 to SIBn. It provides information such as the mobility, time, earthquake and tsunami
warning system (ETWS), and commercial mobile alert system (CMAS) for a UE. The current version
supports only SIB2, SIB3, SIB4, SIB5, and SIB9.
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles

 After the cell search is complete, a UE achieves downlink synchronization with the cell and can receive
downlink data. However, the UE has not achieved uplink synchronization with the cell yet. The UE
establishes a connection with the cell and achieves uplink synchronization through RA to perform uplink
transmission. The UE initiates RA using specific PRACH time-frequency resources. When the UE
initiates RA, an RA preamble is transmitted. The RA preamble is used to inform the gNodeB of an RA
request, allowing the gNodeB to estimate the transmission delay between the gNodeB and the UE.

 RA has the following mechanisms:

 Contention-based RA: Preambles are randomly selected by UEs and such preambles are random.
In this case, conflicts may exist among the preambles selected by different UEs. The gNodeB uses
a contention resolution mechanism to handle access requests. The RA result is random and not all
RA procedures succeed.

 Non-contention-based RA: Preambles are allocated by the gNodeB to UEs and such preambles
are dedicated. Therefore, there is no preamble conflict. When dedicated preambles are
insufficient, the gNodeB instructs UEs to initiate contention-based RA.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 Basic principles of random access:

 Random access is a process of implementing uplink time-frequency synchronization between UE

and gNodeB.

 Before random access, the physical layer should receive the following information from the upper
layer:

 Random access channel PRACH parameter: PRACH configuration, frequency domain

position, preamble (preamble) format…
 The cell uses the preamble root sequence and its cyclic shift to demodulate random access
preambles.
 The random access procedure at the physical layer consists of two steps:

 The UE sends a random access preamble.

 gNodeB response to random access
5G Wireless Network Principles

 1. A UE sends Msg1 to the gNodeB to initiate contention-based RA.

 2. The gNodeB sends an RA response to the UE through Msg2.

 3. The UE sends an RRCSetupRequest message carrying the RRC connection setup cause and UE
identity to the gNodeB, requesting the setup of an RRC connection.

 4. The gNodeB sets up UE context.

 5. The gNodeB performs the SRB1 admission and resource allocation.

 6. The gNodeB sends an RRCSetup message containing SRB1 resource configurations to the UE.

 7. The UE configures radio resources based on the SRB1 resource information indicated by the
RRCSetup message. It then sends the gNodeB an RRCSetupComplete message indicating that the
RRC connection setup is complete.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 1. After the RRC connection is set up, the UE sends an RRCSetupComplete message to the gNodeB.
The RRCSetupComplete message contains the selectedPLMN-Identity, registeredAMF, s-nssai-list, and
NAS message.

 2. The gNodeB allocates a dedicated RAN-UE-NGAP-ID to the UE, and selects an AMF node based on
the selectedPLMN-Identity, registeredAMF, and s-nssai-list. Then, it sends the NAS message carried in
the RRCSetupComplete message to the AMF through an INITIAL UE MESSAGE, triggering an NG-C
connection setup procedure.

 3. The gNodeB transparently transmits the NAS direct transfer messages between the UE and AMF to
complete the identity query, authentication, NAS security mode, and registration.

 4. The AMF sends an INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message to the gNodeB, triggering an
initial context setup procedure.

 5. The gNodeB sends a SecurityModeCommand message to the UE, instructing the UE to start integrity
protection and encryption. Then, downlink encryption starts.

 6. Based on the integrity protection and encryption algorithms indicated by the SecurityModeCommand
message, the UE derives a key and sends a SecurityModeComplete message to the gNodeB. Then,
uplink encryption starts.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 1. The AMF sends a PDU SESSION RESOURCE SETUP REQUEST message to the gNodeB. The
message contains a list of PDU sessions to be set up, a list of QoS flows of each PDU session, and the
quality attribute of each QoS flow.

 2. The gNodeB maps QoS flows to DRBs based on the QoS flow quality attributes and MML-configured
policy. It then sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the UE, instructing the UE to set up DRBs.

 Based on the drb-ToAddModList IE contained in the RRCReconfiguration message, the UE sets

up DRBs. The UE performs the following operations as instructed:

 Sets up a PDCP entity and configures related security parameters.

 Sets up and configures an RLC entity.

 Sets up and configures a dedicated traffic channel (DTCH).
 3. After setting up DRBs, the UE sends an RRCReconfigurationComplete message to the gNodeB.

 4. The gNodeB sends the AMF a PDU SESSION RESOURCE SETUP RESPONSE message indicating
that the PDU session setup is complete.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 System information broadcastSystem information broadcast is the first step for a UE to obtain the basic
network service information. Through the system information broadcast procedure, the UE can obtain
basic AS and NAS information.

 Paging: When the network needs to set up a connection with a UE, the network initiates a paging
procedure to locate the UE. This procedure involves only the terminating UE but not the originating UE.

 RA to the eNodeB: RA is a necessary procedure to establish a radio link between a UE and the network.
In NSA networking, the UE sends an access request to the eNodeB and then the eNodeB responds to
the request and allocates a random access channel (RACH).

 Signaling connection management: After RA to the eNodeB is complete, the eNodeB sets up a signaling
connection between the UE and MME. Signaling connections are set up before the security mode setup
and consist of RRC connections and dedicated S1 connections.

 E-UTRAN radio bearer management: E-UTRAN radio bearer management refers to SRB2 and DRB
management by the eNodeB after the security mode setup.

 NR B1 measurement: The eNodeB delivers the measurement configuration related to event B1 to a UE

to detect the neighboring NR cell with the best signal quality.

 NG-RAN radio bearer management: NG-RAN radio bearer management refers to SRB3 and DRB
management by the gNodeB.

 RA to the gNodeB: A UE sends an access request to the gNodeB.

5G Wireless Network Principles

 There is no signaling interaction between the gNodeB and the UE over the Uu interface. All signaling
interaction between the gNodeB and the UE is forwarded through the X2 interface between the gNodeB
and the eNodeB. After receiving NR B1 measurement reports from the UE, the gNodeB can add an
SgNB, that is, SgNB Addition.

 1. The MeNB delivers a B1 measurement control message to the UE (signaling RRC

reconfiguration).

 2. The UE reports event B1 to the MeNB and finds the strongest neighboring NR cell.

 3. The MeNB sends an SgNB addition request message to the SgNB.

 4. The SgNB returns an addition acknowledgment to the MeNB.

 5. The MeNB configures an SgNB for the UE through RRC reconfiguration and sets up an NR
bearer.

 6. The UE returns a configuration completion message to the MeNB.

 7. The MeNB returns a configuration completion message to the SgNB.

 8. The MeNB sends the SN to the SgNB (only when the RLC mode is AM).

 9. The MeNB sends a bearer change indication to the core network.

 10. The core network returns a bearer change confirmation message to the MeNB.

 11. The UE initiates random access to the SgNB.

5G Wireless Network Principles

 Intra-frequency mobility management involves only one trigger cause: coverage-based.

 After the EN-DC UE is connected or the handover is complete, if the measurement configuration is
updated, the eNodeB sends an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message to deliver the updated or
partially updated measurement configuration. Otherwise, the original measurement configuration
information is used.
5G Wireless Network Principles

 1. The MeNB delivers the A3 measurement configuration to the UE.

 2. The UE sends an A3 measurement report to the MeNB to report stronger neighboring NR cells.

 3. The MeNB forwards the measurement information to the S-SgNB.

 4. The S-SgNB sends an NR change request to the MeNB.

 5. The MeNB sends an NR addition request to the T-SgNB.

 6. The T-SgNB returns an NR addition acknowledgment to the MeNB.

 7. The MeNB reconfigures the NR for the UE.

 8. The UE returns a configuration completion message to the MeNB.

 9. The MeNB returns an NR change confirmation message to the S-SgNB.

 10. The MeNB returns a configuration completion message to the T-SgNB.

 11. The S-SgNB forwards the SN to the MeNB (only in AM RLC mode).

 12. The MeNB forwards the SN to the T-SgNB (only in AM RLC mode).

 13. The MeNB sends a bearer change indication to the core network.

 14. The core network sends a bearer change confirmation message to the MeNB.

 15. The MeNB sends a context release request to the S-SgNB.

 16. The UE initiates random access to the T-SgNB.

5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles
5G Wireless Network Principles