User Performance in a 5G Multi-connectivity Ultra-Dense Network City Scenario

Multi-connectivity and network densification are two solutions intended to improve performance and reliability. These solutions can improve 5G NR’s system performance especially when using high-frequency bands. This work focuses on the user equipment (UE) performance using multi-connectivity within an ultra-dense deployment in a city environment. By being connected to more than one access node simultaneously, the UE should benefit from increased reliability and performance. However, this improved performance comes at the expense of a potentially increased power consumption. Simulation results show that multi-connectivity improves performance by up to 46% and 27% in downlink and uplink resp., increases UE energy efficiency by up to 30% and improves reliability for highly mobile users by up to 37%. The price to pay is an increased UE power consumption of up to 25% and 60% for dual-connectivity and tri-connectivity resp. A multi-connectivity scheme is presented to reduce the secondary connection’s transmit power.