Physical Layer Enhancements for Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications in 5G New Radio Systems

Ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) is one of three main usage scenarios in the fifth generation (5G) cellular networks, which is characterized by extremely stringent latency and reliability requirements to support a diverse set of mission-critical applications. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has conducted standardization activities targeting URLLC services in New Radio (NR) Releases 15 and 16. This article describes physical layer enhancements related to URLLC for 5G NR specified in 3GPP, offering comprehensive insights into the key features with their design principles. In addition, we summarize the recent status of ongoing discussions at NR release 17 regarding further improvements for URLLC.