Understanding and Modeling the

5G NR Physical Layer

Marc Barberis

© 2015 The MathWorks, Inc.

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Objectives

Understand some of 5G NR Physical

Layer & Beyond

See how 5G Toolbox can help you

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 URLLC Work and Play in the Cloud
Ultrareliable and
Low Latency
Self Driving Car
Voice
Industry Automation

Gigabyte/sec data transfer

3D videos, UHD
Smart Home/Building

Smart City
eMBB mMTC
Enhanced Mobile Massive Machine
Broadband
Mission Critical Applications
Type Comms
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 URLLC
Ultrareliable and
Low Latency

eMBB mMTC
Enhanced Mobile Massive Machine
Broadband Type Comms
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How different is 5G NR from 4G??

Let’s have a look at a few differences

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5G vs LTE: Main Physical Layer Differences
LTE 5G

Use cases Mobile broadband access (MTC later) More use cases: eMBB, mMTC, URLLC

Latency ~10 ms <1 ms

Band Below 6 GHz Up to 60 GHz

Up to 100 MHz below 6 GHz

Bandwidth Up to 20 MHz
Up to 400 MHz above 6 GHz
Subcarrier
Fixed Variable
spacing

Freq allocation UEs need to decode the whole BW Use of bandwidth parts

“Always on” Used: Cell specific RS, PSS,SSS, Avoid always on signals, the only one is
signals PBCH the SS block
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5G NR Waveform Analysis

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5G NR Waveform Analysis

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Not so fast…

The fundamentals.

Let’s step back a little

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Operating Frequencies

▪ Standard defines two frequency ranges

Frequency Range Frequency Duplex Mode

FR1 410 MHz - 7.125 GHz TDD and FDD
FR2 24.25 - 52.6 GHz TDD

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Basic Principles: Similar to LTE

▪ Mostly same channels: data, control, broadcast, random access…

▪ Two operating modes: FDD and TDD (*)
▪ OFDM-based (**)

but with different values for subcarrier spacing

(**) Frequency Division Duplex, Time Division Duplex

(*) Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

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 OFDM Modulation and Subcarrier Spacing
Subcarrier spacing = 15kHz

Inverse Fast Fourier Transform

IFFT
...

1 1.2 0.8

45kHz 90kHz
Subcarrier spacing = 30kHz
30kHz 60kHz
15kHz 30kHz

When subcarrier spacing x 2,

The OFDM symbol duration x 1Τ2

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Numerology and Subcarrier Spacing

Slot configuration 0
Subcarrier spacing (kHz) 15 30 60 120 240

Symbol duration (no CP) (μs) 66.7 33.3 16.6 8.33 4.17

Nominal max BW (MHz) 49.5 99 198 396 397.4

Min scheduling interval (ms) 1 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.0625

• This flexibility is required to support different services (eMBB, mMTC, URLLC) and to
meet short latency requirements

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Numerology and Subcarrier Spacing

Slot configuration 0
Subcarrier spacing (kHz) 15 30 60 120 240
< 6GHz Everywhere > 6GHz > 6GHz
Frequency range supported (data & sync) (data) (data & (sync)
sync)

Symbol duration (no CP) (μs) 66.7 33.3 16.7 8.33 4.17

Symbol duration with CP (μs) 71.4 35.6 17.9 8.92 4.46

Min scheduling interval (ms) 1 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.0625

– 1 slot (14 symbols)

Cell size : Large Cell size : Small

Delay spread: Long Delay spread: short
Large subcarrier: fight frequency-error
and phase noise
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 Slots and OFDM Symbols (Normal CP)
Subcarrier spacing (kHz) Symbols/slot Slots/subframe
15 14 1
30 14 2
60 14 4
120 14 8
240 14 16
subframe
slot: 1 ms

15 kHz

slot: 0.5 ms

30 kHz

slot: 0.25 ms

60 kHz
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 Bandwidth Parts (BWP)

▪ Define a carrier as the addressable

bandwidth

15 kHz SCS Carrier, NRB

▪ Define a bandwidth part as the active part of BWP
the carrier BWP NRB 30 kHz SCS,
normal CP

▪ BWPs address the following issues: BWP RBOffset

– Devices may not be able to receive

the full BW Point A RBStart

– Bandwidth adaptation: reduce energy

consumption when only narrow bandwidth
is required

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Bandwidth Parts (BWP): Bandwidth Adaptation

▪ A UE can be configured with up to 4 bandwidth parts

▪ Only one bandwidth part is active at a time
▪ UE is not expected to receive data outside of active bandwidth part
Carrier bandwidth

BWP2
active BWP3 active
(NDLRB)

BWP1 BWP1
active active

time
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Resource Elements and Resource Blocks

Resource element: smallest physical resource

Resource block: 12 subcarriers

Subcarrier (freq)

OFDM symbols (time)

OFDM symbol

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Remember this picture??

1 resource element

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Obervations?

▪ Repetitions
▪ DC offset?
▪ Not much transmission

➢ We may be looking at basic info

broadcast by the base station

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How does a phone get onto the network?

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Synchronization Signal Block

▪ Primary Synchronization Sequence

– One of 3 possible sequences
– Provides timing estimate

▪ Secondary Synchronization Sequence

– One of 336 possible sequences
– Provides cell ID (one of 3*336 = 1008)

▪ Broadcast Channel and DMRS

– Contains MIB = Master Information Block
– Includes basic information to take next
step: decode SIB1 (System Information Block)

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PBCH Content

▪ MIB contents (constant over 80 ms or 8 frames)

Cell barred flag Are devices allowed in the cell?
First PDSCH DM-RS position Time domain position of 1st DM-RS (type-A)
SIB1 numerology SIB1 subcarrier spacing
SIB1 configuration Search space, CORESET and PDCCH parameters
CRB grid offset Freq domain offset between SS block and common resource grid
SFN System frame number

▪ Other PBCH content (not constant over 80 ms)

SS block index SS block time domain index (only present for FR2)
Half frame bit Is the SS block in the 1st or 2nd half of the frame?
SFN (4 LSB) 4 least significant bits of SFN
CRC Cyclic redundancy check (24 bits)

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Synchronization Signal Burst

▪ Burst can be repeated several times

Why??
SCS (kHz) Max number SS Blocks

fc < 3 GHz 3 GHz ≤ fc ≤ 6 GHz 6 GHz < fc

Case A 15 4 8
Case B 30 4 8
Case C 30 4 8
Case D 120 64
Case E 240 64

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Each SS Block is beamformed with a different pattern

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The receiver sees different beams with different signal
strengths

Strongest beam
• Transmitter can focus energy is
narrower beams

• Up to 64 possible beams for mmW:

massive MIMO support
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Wait a minute….

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Coming back to our picture…

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SS Block Functionality Summary & Demonstration

▪ Synchronization:
– Symbol synchronization
– Frame synchronization

▪ MIB decoding

▪ Beam search

MATLAB Example

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Data, Control, CORESETS

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Let’s look at another 5G waveform: Test Model

MATLAB Example

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NR-TM2-FR2 OFDM Grid

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CORESETs
(Control Resource Sets)

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CORESETs (Control Resource Sets)

▪ Set of time/frequency resources

where PDCCH can be transmitted
▪ Semi-statically configured by the
network
▪ There can be many CORESETs in
a carrier
▪ Can occur anywhere in the slot
and in the frequency range of the
carrier
▪ Max length of 3 symbols

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Main Difference with LTE Control Region

▪ Does not span the whole bandwidth

▪ Advantages
– Supports limited bandwidth capabilities
– Saves power

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Control (PDCCH)

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Downlink Control in 5G NR

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DCI (Downlink Control Information)

▪ Carries control information used to schedule user data (PDSCH or PUSCH)

Physical Downlink/Uplink Shared Channel

▪ Carried in the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

▪ Indicates:
– Where is the data for a user? (time/frequency)
– Modulation and coding scheme
– HARQ related aspects (RV, process number, new data indicator)
– Antenna ports and number of layers
– …

▪ Users need to decode DCI before they can decode or transmit data

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DCI Processing Chain

▪ Main difference with LTE: use of polar coding

▪ CRC scrambled with RNTI

DCI Polar Rate

CRC encoding matching Codeword
bits

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 PDCCH Processing Chain (Physical Downlink Control
Channel)
▪ Carries the DCI
▪ Modulated using QPSK

QPSK
DCI Mapping to
DCI bits Scrambling Modulation Resource grid
coding resource blocks

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DCI: PDSCH Scheduling

Decode
PDCCH

Parse
DCI
• Where is the data for a user? (time/frequency)
• What modulation and coding scheme?
Decode • HARQ related aspects (RV, process number, new data indicator)
PDSCH • Antenna ports and number of layers

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DCI: PUSCH Scheduling

• Where is the data for a user? (time/frequency)

• What modulation and coding scheme?
• HARQ related aspects (RV, process number, new data
indicator)
• Antenna ports and number of layers
• Precoding
• CSI request
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Downlink Data in 5G NR

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Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)

▪ Carries user data

▪ Can also carry the System Information Block (SIB) More on
▪ Main difference with LTE: use of LDPC coding that later
▪ Up to 8 layers = MIMO support
▪ Mapped to the PDSCH

Code block (CB)

CB
CRC segmentation & LDPC Rate matching
concatenation
CB-CRC
Tr block Code Code Code Codeword (cw)
blocks blocks blocks

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Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) Single Codeword

Code block (CB)

CB
CRC segmentation & LDPC Rate matching
concatenation
CB-CRC
Tr block Code Code Code Codeword (cw)
blocks blocks blocks

5G Toolbox

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 Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)

▪ Highly configurable
▪ Parameters are configured by:
– DCI (Downlink Control Information)
– RRC (Radio Resource Control)

1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 1 to 8
cw cw cw layers
Tr Layer Multi-antenna Resource Resource
DL-SCH Scrambling Modulation
block mapping precoding mapping grid

DM-RS CSI-RS

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Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)

1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 DM-RS CSI-RS
cw cw cw

Tr Layer Multi-antenna Resource Resource

DL-SCH Scrambling Modulation
block mapping precoding mapping grid
1 to 8
layers

Modulation scheme Modulation order

QPSK 2
16QAM 4
64QAM 6
256QAM 8

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PDSCH Multi-antenna Precoding

1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 DM-RS CSI-RS
cw cw cw

Tr Layer Multi-antenna Resource Resource

DL-SCH Scrambling Modulation
block mapping precoding mapping grid
1 to 8
layers

▪ Achieves beamforming and spatial multiplexing

▪ Maps layers to antenna port
▪ Uses a precoding matrix WNantennas x Nlayers
▪ DM-RS has to go through the same precoding operation

Precoding
layers Antenna ports
W

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Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)

1 or 2 1 or 2 1 or 2 DM-RS CSI-RS
cw cw cw

Tr Layer Multi-antenna Resource Resource

DL-SCH Scrambling Modulation
block mapping precoding mapping grid
1 to 8
layers

5G Toolbox

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PDSCH Mapping Types

▪ Two types of mapping

PDSCH
Mapping Type A Mapping Type B allocation
PDSCH

DM-RS

other

• First DM-RS in symbol 2 or 3 of the slot • DM-RS in first symbol of the allocation
• PUSCH partially mapped to slot 50
SIB1 and RACH

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Remember: PBCH Content

▪ MIB contents (constant over 80 ms or 8 frames)

Cell barred flag Are devices allowed in the cell?
First PDSCH DM-RS position Time domain position of 1st DM-RS (type-A)
SIB1 numerology SIB1 subcarrier spacing
SIB1 configuration Search space, CORESET and PDCCH parameters
CRB grid offset Freq domain offset between SS block and common resource grid
SFN System frame number

▪ Other PBCH content (not constant over 80 ms)

SS block index SS block time domain index (only present for FR2)
SIB1 is theMIBnext
contains
piece ofparameters
information required
the UE needs
to decodeto connect to
Half frame bit st nd
Is the SS block in the 1 or 2 half of the frame?
System Information
the network Block 1 (SIB1)
SFN (4 LSB) 4 least significant bits of SFN
CRC Cyclic redundancy check (24 bits)
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SIB1 Transmission

▪ SIB1 is transmitted on PDSCH with associated control (PDCCH)

▪ SIB1 is transmitted repeatedly with

beamforming

▪ Once SIB1 is decoded, UE is ready

to send a RACH (random access)

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Random Access Channel (RACH)

▪ Used to access the network – or send scheduling requests

Decode MIB

Decode SIB1

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Random Access Procedure

RACH RACH
RACH access response: timing advance, temporary RNTI,
scheduling grant. Uses RA-RNTI PDSCH

Contention resolution: Device identity

PUSCH
Note: there could be 2 devices going through the
exact same steps, but they have different identities

Contention resolution: device identity. DCI uses temporary RNTI

PDSCH

Device that recognized its device identity declares procedure

successful and uses temporary RNTI as actual RNTI henceforth

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Final look at the waveform – and 5G Toolbox

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Remember this picture??

SIB1

BCH/MIB

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MATLAB 5G Toolbox Demodulation

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Challenges

Read specification Algorithm development Test & validation

and understand
the theory

… lets you focus on what matters

59
5G Toolbox applications & use-cases

Waveform generation and analysis

▪ New Radio (NR) subcarrier spacings and frame
numerologies

End-to-end link-level simulation

▪ Transmitter, channel model, and receiver
▪ Analyze bit error rate (BER), and throughput

Golden reference design verification

▪ Customizable and editable algorithms as golden
reference for implementation

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5G Toolbox has open customizable algorithms

▪ All functions are ▪ C/C++ code generation:

Open, editable, customizable Supported with MATLAB Coder
MATLAB code

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5G Toolbox: Content detail

▪ Waveform generation
– Transport channels, physical channels and signals
– Synchronization bursts
▪ Transmit and receive for DL and UL
▪ TDL and CDL channel models
▪ Reference designs as detailed examples
– Link-level simulation & throughput measurements
– Cell search procedures
– Measurements (ACLR)

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5G Waveform Generation

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End-to-end link-level simulation : NR PDSCH Throughput

Transmitter Receiver
HARQ
DL-SCH
DL-SCH
decoding

PDSCH
PDSCH
decoding

Precoding Channel
estimation

CP-OFDM CP-OFDM
demod

Synchroniz.

Channel model:
CDL or TDL

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End-to-end link-level simulation : NR PUSCH Throughput

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Cell search and selection procedures

▪ Obtain cell ID and initial system information

including Master Information Block (MIB)
▪ Perform the following steps:
– Burst generation
– Beam sweep
– TDL propagation channel model and AWGN
– Receiver synchronization and demodulation

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5G NR Downlink ACLR Measurement

% Apply required oversampling

resampled = resample(filtWaveform,aclr.OSR,1);

% Calculate NR ACLR
aclr = hACLRMeasurementNR(aclr,resampled);

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5G Toolbox Summary

5G NR waveform generation End-to-end link-level simulation &

synchronization

Full MATLAB source code

5G Toolbox lets you focus on what matters 68

How to learn more

▪ Go to 5G Toolbox product page

www.mathworks.com/products/5g

▪ Watch the 5G Toolbox video

▪ Watch the “5G Explained” Series:

https://www.mathworks.com/videos/series/5g-explained.html

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Thank You!

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