5G Field Experimental Trials on URLLC Using New Frame Structure

The fifth generation mobile communications (5G) system will need to support ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) to enable future mission-critical applications, e.g., self-driving cars and remote control. With the aim to verify the feasibility of URLLC related 5G requirements under real environments, field experimental trials of URLLC using new frame structure were conducted in Yokohama, Japan. In this paper, we present the trial results and investigate the impact of 5G new frame structure and retransmission method on URLLC performance. To reduce the user-plane latency and improve the packet success probability, a 60-kHz subcarrier spacing, self-contained frame structure and acknowledgement/negative acknowledgement-less (ACK/NACK-less) retransmission are adopted. We test these techniques in real field using our prototype test-bed. The field trial results show that the URLLC related requirements defined by 3GPP are achieved even for a low signal-to-noise ratio or non-line-of-sight locations.