Wideband Broadcasting: A Power-Efficient Approach to 5G Broadcasting

Efficient and flexible use of spectrum will be inherent characteristics of 5G communication technologies with native support of wideband operation with frequency reuse 1 (i.e., all transmit sites use all available frequency resources). Although not in the very first 5G release of 3GPP, it is expected that broadcast/multicast technology components will later be added and fully integrated in the 5G system. The combination of both wideband and frequency reuse 1 may provide significant gains for broadcast transmissions in terms of energy efficiency, since it is more efficient to increase capacity by extending the bandwidth rather than increasing the transmit power over a given bandwidth. This breaks with the traditional concept of terrestrial broadcast frequency planning, and paves the way to new potential uses of UHF spectrum bands for 5G broadcasting. This article provides insight into the fundamental advantages in terms of capacity, coverage, as well as power saving of wideband broadcast operation. The role of network deployment, linked to frequency reuse in the UHF band, and its influence on the performance of a wideband broadcasting system are discussed. The technical requirements and features that would enable such a power-efficient solution are also addressed.