What Is 5G New Radio?
New Radio (NR) is the air interface supporting the next generation of mobile communication,
commonly referred to as fth generation or 5G.
The predecessors of 5G NR are GSM, UMTS, and LTE, also referred to as second generation (2G),
third generation (3G), and fourth generation (4G) technologies, respectively. GSM primarily enabled
voice calls. The redesigned interfaces of UMTS and LTE enabled and gradually improved mobile
broadband connectivity with high data rates and high eiciency.
5G NR continues on the path of LTE by enabling much higher data rates and much higher eiciency
for mobile broadband. However, as a response to the demands of networked society, the scope of 5G
NR goes beyond mobile broadband connectivity. The main requirement of 5G NR is to enable wireless
connectivity everywhere, at any time to anyone and anything.
The wide range of use cases that drive 5G NR are classied by three main scenarios.
• Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) — This scenario is still the most important usage scenario
that addresses human-centric communications. eMBB use cases have various challenges. For
example, hot spots require higher data rates, higher user density, and a need for high capacity.
Wide area coverage stresses mobility and seamless user experience with lower requirements on
data rate and user density.
• Massive machine type communications (mMTC) — This scenario addresses pure machine-centric
use cases characterized by a large number of connected devices. Typically, the data rate
requirement of mMTC applications is low. However, the use cases demand a high connection
density locally, low cost, and long battery life.
• Ultra reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) — This scenario covers both human-
centric communication and critical machine-type communication (C-MTC) that demand low
latency, reliability, and high availability. Typical URLLC use cases include 3-D gaming, self driving
cars, mission-critical applications, remote medical surgery, and wireless control of industrial
equipment.
This classication is based on presently foreseen use cases and identies key capabilities of 5G NR.
Based on these capabilities, the 5G NR interface is designed to easily adapt to unforeseen use cases
that will evolve and emerge over time.
Scope of 5G Toolbox
The 5G NR specication is developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The rst
release of the standard was frozen in mid-2018 as 3GPP 5G NR Release 15.
5G Toolbox provides implementations for a subset of the 5G NR physical layer specication and
channel model specications. The following diagram highlights the scope of 5G Toolbox in terms of
the addressed specications and their connectivity.
What Is 5G New Radio?
1-3