Phase synchronization for 5G using mass market GNSS receivers

Industry and academia have been quite active in defining the next generation telecommunication technology (5G). Even though significant progress has been achieved in 3GPP standardization organization, requirements on frequency and time synchronization are not yet fully consolidated. However, looking at the requirements of already published standards for 4G, one could conclude that the telecommunication technology synchronization shifts from frequency synchronization (for LTE) to phase synchronization (for LTE-A) due to advantages that the latter offers for MIMO techniques. Indeed, coordinated multipoint technology introduced in the latest release of 3GPP recommendations requires the time alignment error to stay below 65ns at the base station transmitter port. It is more than evident that in order to enable a smooth roll out of 5G technology, industry and academia should look for an affordable technology capable to deliver accuracies in the above mentioned range. Our paper contributes toward that goal by evaluating relative time (phase) synchronization of mass market Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and hence giving an overview of what is possible to achieve with the current technology.