Standard · Analog, RF & Mixed-Signal
5G NR (5G New Radio)
The 3GPP radio access technology for fifth-generation cellular, defined from Release 15 onward, covering both sub-6 GHz and mmWave spectrum with flexible numerology and massive MIMO.
It drives most current RF front-end and converter requirements.
- Also known as
- New Radio, NR
- Type
- Standard
- Domain
- Analog, RF & Mixed-Signal, Wireless technology
Notes
Its wider channel bandwidths, up to 400 MHz at mmWave, forced a step change in data converter sample rates.
Overview
5G NR, short for New Radio, is the radio access technology that 3GPP defined for fifth-generation mobile networks, starting with Release 15. It sets how phones, modules and base stations transmit and receive over the air, across spectrum from below 1 GHz up to millimetre-wave bands. For chip designers it is the specification behind modem, transceiver and RF front-end requirements in most current cellular products.
How it works
NR, like LTE before it, is based on orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), but it is much more flexible. Its specifications define two frequency ranges: FR1, from 410 MHz to 7,125 MHz, and FR2, from 24.25 GHz to 71 GHz, the millimetre-wave range. NR supports several subcarrier spacings, from 15 kHz in FR1 up to much wider spacings in FR2; wider spacing gives shorter slots and lower latency, at the cost of shorter cyclic prefixes, so the choice depends on band and use.
Many antennas are central to NR. Massive MIMO, built into the design from the start, uses arrays with many antenna elements and many transmit and receive chains to steer beams towards devices, improving coverage, capacity and throughput. Beam steering matters most at millimetre-wave frequencies, where signals weaken more quickly with distance.
NR can be deployed in two ways. In non-standalone mode, NR cells work alongside an existing LTE network and its 4G core, which was the first option to be specified, in late 2017. In standalone mode, NR connects to the new 5G core, which supports the full set of 5G services. Release 15 was the first full set of 5G standards, and later releases add features and bands.
Examples
- A smartphone modem chipset supporting both FR1 sub-6 GHz bands and FR2 millimetre-wave bands.
- A base station radio using a massive MIMO antenna array to steer beams in a mid-band time-division band.
- An RF front-end module for FR1 bands designed to the transmitter and receiver requirements in 3GPP TS 38.101-1.
- An early network launch using non-standalone NR anchored on an existing LTE network before moving to a 5G core.
- A test team running NR conformance tests on a new modem before operator certification.
Why it matters
Modem architects, RF front-end and transceiver designers, baseband firmware engineers and test engineers all work from the NR specifications, because they set the bands, power levels, linearity, bandwidths and latency a product must meet. A design that misses a requirement is likely to fail conformance or operator testing.
Related terms
Part of the Analog, RF & Mixed-Signal glossary, with every term in the topic and the lifecycles, tools and standards that use them.
Where it appears on the Hub
Used on 9 pages of the Hub. In each group, the pages that mention it most come first.
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Last reviewed . Written by The Semiconductor Hub editorial team. The full glossary