Ensuring Energy Efficient 5G User Equipment by Technology Evolution and Reuse

Research on fifth generation (5G) radio access technology (RAT) is ramping up, with the goal of significantly improving user data rates and latency compared to previous RAT generations. While energy efficiency (EE) of the user equipment (UE) was not a key optimization parameter for the current wireless standards, it is anticipated to become a distinguishing factor for 5G. In this paper, we analyze established and emerging technological solutions for features such as waveform, frame structure, duplexing and multiple antenna transmission from an EE perspective. Our contribution is to identify and discuss the features' pros and cons in achieving high performance in terms of data rate and/or latency while limiting their effect on the UE power consumption. Based on the discussion we give general recommendations for an energy efficient 5G design in the context of a previously proposed RAT concept.