Soft Air Interface to Support 5G Services and Requirements

The 5G NR is the next frontier of innovation for the wireless industry and broader ICT ecosystem. It is common consensus that 5G NR will make breakthroughs to support ultra-large capacity and ultra-high data rate for massive connectivity but with ultra-low latency and ultra-low energy consumption. Making this 5G NR a reality requires a unified, more capable air interface design that will bring new levels of flexibility, scalability, and efficiency to meet the expanding needs in the next decade and beyond. In this article, we explore some key advanced techniques for the soft air interface from our viewpoint. These techniques can strongly support 5G NR to get the most out of every bit of spectrum across a wide range of all spectrum bands from below 1 GHz up to 100 GHz and enable air interface slicing for diverse services and forward compatibility.