An Outlook on the Unlicensed Operation Aspects of NR

The standardization of 5G New Radio (NR) has started and addresses a wide range of use-cases. The 5G application demands include among others, very high data rates, support for huge number of low-power devices and mission critical communication. NR design supports operation in both traditional licensed frequency spectrum bands as well as unlicensed frequencies. In this paper, we present some of the design aspects and architectural details of NR to support spectrum sharing in the unlicensed spectrum. Moreover, we present system level simulation results showing the NR spectrum sharing capabilities while complying with the regulatory requirements.