5G New Radio: Overview and Performance

The 3GPP New Radio (NR) is a unified, flexible air interface that supports the three main categories for 5G communications as defined by the ITU: enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low-latency communication, and massive internet of things. NR can also support various 5G vertical applications such as those in the automotive and health care industries. This paper provides an overview of the key components of the NR air interface with an emphasis on the physical layer and MIMO aspects. The system-level performance characteristics of NR-MIMO will be described with respect to various implementation aspects. Finally, the results of a preliminary network evolution study will show how NR and massive MIMO technology can meet future traffic demands with evolutions of current networks.