Calculators » Wireless and Cellular » 5G NR Throughput Calculator and Formula

5G NR Throughput Calculator and Formula

This page provides a 5G NR Throughput Calculator and explains the formula behind it. The calculator is developed based on the specifications in 3GPP TS 38.306 and 38.101-1,2 documents.

5G NR Throughput Calculator

To determine 5G NR throughput, input the following values into the calculator below, following the example:

Example:

J (Number of CCs) = 1
Qm (Modulation order) = 8 (i.e., 256 QAM)
V layer (Number of layers) = 4
F (Scaling Factor) = 1
µ (5G NR Numerology) = 1
Number of PRBs = 273
OH (Overhead) = 0.14

Result:

2.337 Gbps (or 2337 Mbps)

Note: By changing the value of “J,” you can observe different 5G NR throughput values. For example:

J = 2 yields 4.674 Gbps
J = 4 yields 9.348 Gbps
J = 8 yields 18.696 Gbps

Formula for 5G NR Throughput Calculation

For 5G NR, the approximate data rate for a given number of aggregated carriers in a band or band combination can be calculated using the following formula:

5G NR throughput formula

Where:

J: Number of aggregated component carriers in a band or band combination.
R_max: 948/1024
V_layers^(j): Maximum number of layers for the j-th CC.
Q_m^(j): Maximum modulation order.
- Qm = 2 for QPSK
- Qm = 4 for 16QAM
- Qm = 6 for 64QAM
- Qm = 8 for 256QAM
f^(j): Scaling factor (can be 1/0.8/0.75/0.4).
μ: 5G NR Numerology (can be 0 to 5).
T_s^μ: Average OFDM symbol duration in a subframe for μ value. T_s^μ = 10^-3 /(14*2^μ).
N_PRB^BW(j),μ: Maximum RB Allocation in bandwidth, BW^(j) with numerology (μ). BW^(j) is UE supported maximum Bandwidth in a given band or band combinations. REs are grouped into PRBs (Physical Resource Blocks). Each PRB consists of 12 Subcarriers.
OH^(j): Overhead which takes any of the following values:
- 0.14 → Frequency Range FR1 for DL
- 0.18 → Frequency Range FR2 for DL
- 0.08 → Frequency Range FR1 for UL
- 0.10 → Frequency Range FR2 for DL

The calculator uses this formula along with 5G NR Physical layer parameters and other 5G NR system parameters.

For more details on 5G NR data rate calculation, refer to 3GPP TS 38.306. The following table shows the maximum transmission bandwidth configuration NRB for each UE channel bandwidth and subcarrier spacing: