RFLTE vs 5G TF vs 5G NR: Key Differences
lte
5g
nr
mobile communication
wireless technology
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This article compares LTE, 5G TF (Technical Forum), and 5G NR (New Radio) technologies, highlighting their differences.
Specifications Comparison
The following table summarizes the key specifications of LTE, 5G TF, and 5G NR.
| Specifications | LTE | 5G TF (Verizon’s 5G Technical Forum) | 5G NR (3GPP 5G New Radio) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Form | Long Term Evolution | Verizon’s 5G Technical Forum | 3GPP 5G New Radio |
| Radio Frame Duration | 10 ms | 10 ms | 10 ms |
| Number of subframes in a frame | 10 | 50 | 10 |
| Number of slots in a frame | 20 (each of 1ms duration) | 100 (each of 0.1ms duration) | 20 (each of 1ms duration) |
| Number of RBs (Resource Blocks) | 100 (maximum) | 100 (maximum) | 100 or more |
| Carrier Aggregation (Maximum CCs) | 5 (Rel. 10) | 8 | 16 |
| Subcarrier Spacing | 15 KHz | 75 KHz | Flexible: 2n *15 KHz (Where, n = -2,0,1,…,5) 15 KHz, 30 KHz, 60 KHz, 120 KHz, 240 KHz, (480 KHz) |
| Carrier Bandwidth | 1.4/3/5/10/15/20 MHz (For 20 MHz, using carrier aggregation, BW upto 100 MHz can be used) | 100 MHz | Variable, maximum per CC is 400 MHz (From 100 to 200 MHz for less than 6 GHz band, From 100 MHz to 1 GHz for greater than 6 GHz band) |
| Frequency Bands | Under 6 GHz | 28 GHz | upto 100 GHz |
| Beamforming | Applicable to certain transmission modes with DL/UL reciprocity | with and without DL/UL reciprocity | |
| Modulation | Upto 256-QAM | QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM | QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM and 256-QAM |
| MIMO | Upto 8X8 | 2x2 Only | Upto 8X8 |
| Channel Coding Scheme | Turbo coding for data | LDPC for data | NR Polar codes (Control); NR LDPC (Data) |
Difference between LTE and 5G NR
Table 2 outlines the key differences between LTE and 5G NR with respect to the physical layer and the different channels used in these standards.
| Features | LTE | 5G NR |
|---|---|---|
| Physical layer waveforms | Downlink: CP-OFDM, Uplink: DFT-S-OFDM | Downlink: CP-OFDM, Uplink: CP-OFDM or DFT-S-OFDM |
| Symbol duration | 32.552 ns for subcarrier spacing of 15 KHz and N FFT of 2048 | 0.509 ns for subcarrier spacing of 480 KHz and N FFT of 4096 |
| Subcarrier spacing | Fixed, 15 KHz | Variable, 15/30/60/120/240/480 KHz |
| FFT Size | 2048 | 4096 (<=240 KHz SCS), 8192 for 480 KHz SCS |
| Number of slots per subframe | Fixed | Variable, Depends on subcarrier spacing |
| CP (Cyclic Prefix) type | Normal CP, Extended CP | • Normal CP for all subcarrier spacing (SCS) • Extended CP is supported for 60 KHz SCS |
| Max. number of data subcarriers | 1200 | 3300 |
| Number of symbols per slot | 7 symbols for normal CP, 6 symbols for extended CP | • 14 symbols for normal CP, 12 symbols for extended CP • 2, 4 and 7 symbols for mini-slots |
| UL/DL ratio change | ||
| Synchronization signals | • The PSS is constructed from a frequency-domain ZC sequence of length 63. • Each SSS sequence is constructed by interleaving, in the frequency-domain, two length-31 BPSK-modulated secondary synchronization codes. | • 5G NR SS consists of PSS (Primary SS) and SSS (Secondary SS). • A BPSK modulated m-sequence of length 127 is used for NR PSS. • BPSK modulated Gold sequence of length 127 is used for NR SSS. |
| Reference signals | • Downlink: Reference Signal (RS) • Uplink: DMRS, SRS | • Downlink : DMRS (Demodulation Ref. Signal) , PTRS (Phase Tracking RS) and CSI-RS (Channel State Inf. RS) • Uplink: DMRS, PTRS and SRS • |
| PBCH | ||
| RACH | ||
| PDCCH | ||
| PUCCH | ||
| SS block sweeping | 1 4 for < 3 GHz, 8 for < 3 to 6 GHz, 64 for 6 to 52.6 GHz | |
| Channel coding for various channels | • PBCH/PDCCH: TBCC • PDSCH/PUSCH : Turbo Code • PUCCH: RM Block Code | • PBCH/PDCCH/PUCCH : Polar code • PDSCH/PUSCH: LDPC |
| HARQ Round Trip Time | • FDD: 9ms, TDD: >=8 ms | • 0.25 to 16 ms |
| CA (Carrier Aggregation), DuCo | • CA upto 32 carriers • DuCo upto 64 carriers | • CA upto 16 carriers • DuCo upto 32 carriers |
| UE Bandwidth Adaptation | • Not allowed | • Allowed |
| Mobility | • CRS-based RSRP | • SSS-based RSRP for cell or beam • CSI-RS based RSRP for beam or transmission point |
| MIMO/Beamforming | • Digital Beamforming • Diversity Tx:SFBC • Open loop TxCDD with precoder cycling (PC), 1-port PC • Closed loopTx spatial multiplexing | • Hybrid beamforming • Open Loop Tx: 1 port PC (UE Transparent) • Closed Loop Tx: Spatial Multiplexing |
| Physical Layer |
