Quantifying data rate and bandwidth requirements for immersive 5G experience

The proliferation of smartphones/mobile devices that support a wide range of broadband applications and services has driven the volume of mobile data traffic to an unprecedented high level, requiring a next generation mobile communication system, i.e., the fifth generation (5G). Millimeter wave bands, due to the large available spectrum bandwidth, are considered as one of the most promising approaches to significantly boost the capacity. In this paper, we define a typical use case envisaged in the early stage of the 5G system rollout, where users can experience 100M+ data rate in the target area and at the same time enjoy services demanding extremely high data rates, such as virtual reality and ultra-high definition video. We then break down the use case into four different traffic types: web browsing, content sharing, virtual reality experience and ultra-high definition video, and derive and analyze the distributions of the required instantaneous data rates for each individual traffic type. Finally, we consider the case where multiple users with mixture of traffic types are simultaneously active and analyze the overall data rate and bandwidth requirements to support such a scenario.