# Possible Directions for 5G

Daniel Weibel
Created 17 Mar 2016

Brief overview of the possible directions of a future 5G mobile network, from the point of view of the year 2016.

# Basic design principle

Not just more of the same (e.g. more coverage, capacity, data rate, availability than LTE), but tailored solutions to specific problems/requirements.

For example:

• High-definition TV, other data-centric applications $\longrightarrow$ massive data rates
• Internet of things, M2M $\longrightarrow$ low battery usage
• Self-driving cars, tactile Internet $\longrightarrow$ ultra-short latency, high data rates

# Key dimensions for requirements

• Data rate
• Latency
• Energy consumption and cost
• Number of connected devices

# Design choices

• Wave form (multiple access and signalling) (alternative to OFDM and SC-FDM)
• Modulation (alternative to QAM)

Since 5G approaches different problems with different requirements, there will probably be a palette of technologies (e.g. a range of different wave forms) from which one is selected on a case-by-case basis.

# Possible new technologies

• Millimetre waves (30–300 GHz)
• Massive MIMO
• Densification

# Further new techonologies/directions

• Flat architecture, move logic to network edge, get rid of core network
• Software-defined networking (SDN)
• Network function virtualisation (NFV)
• Cloud radio access network (C-RAN)
• Self-organising network (SON)
• Machine-type communication (MTC)
• Device to device communication (D2D)
• Mobile edge computing (MEC)