What is “5G NR-Light” introduced in 3GPP Release 17?
5G NR started with 3GPP Rel.15 compliant products released in March 2020, and after that, Rel.16 compliant products are appearing one after another.
“Snapdragon™ X35” teeth, 3GPP Rel.17 introduced in RedCap(Reduced Capability) Also called 5G Reduced functionality standard“5G NR-Light”corresponds to world's first (*) rice as a product of Qualcomm company 2023 Year 2 Month 8 on the day (local time) announcement doing.
This time, the “5G NR-Light” Overview of or" LTE Communication standard” I will explain.
While extremely high communication speeds and reliability are required using 5G NR technology, there are also needs for products with low power consumption and low data rates aimed at being installed in multi-connection terminals such as LTE NB-IoT. 5G NR-Light is a standard developed to fill this performance and cost gap. (Figure 1)
In addition, 5G NR-Light contributes to “device miniaturization” and “power saving” by reducing complexity. Use cases for 5G NR-Light have begun to be considered in various fields, and it is expected to be used in wearable terminals (high-end smart watches) andsensor devices for various industries in the future.
Figure 1: Positioning of 5G NR-Light (RedCap)
Comparison of 5G NR-Light and LTE standards
Table 1 provides a brief comparison of 5G NR-Light with LTE Cat.1-bis Cat.4 and NB-IoT standards.
For example, when comparing theoretical throughput with NB-IoT, 5G NR-Light has an upload speed of 50Mbps and a download speed of 150Mbps, which significantly exceeds NB-IoT.
Standard name | Theoretical throughput(DL / UL) | bandwidth | Communication method | MaxTx/Rx | DL/UL MIMO |
NB-IoT | 20~250kbps/20~250kbps | Up to180kHz | HD-FDD | 1 Tx, 1 Rx | incompatible |
LTE Cat. 1-bis | 150Mbps/50Mbps | up to20MHz | FD-FDD, TDD | 1 Tx, 1 Rx | incompatible |
LTE Cat. 4 | 150Mbps/50Mbps | up to20MHz | FD-FDD, TDD | 1 Tx, 2 Rx | 2/1 |
5G NR-Light | 150Mbps/50Mbps | up to20MHz | HD-FDD, FD-FDD, TDD | 1 or 2 Tx, 1 or 2 Rx | 1 or 2/1 |
Table 1: Comparison with LTE standard
Comparison with 5G NR
5G NR-Light is a low-end standard & low cost compared to 5G NR, but the functional services of 5G NR are available.
Therefore, even lower latency and improved reliability are expected compared to LTE. (Examples of 5G NR functions: 5G NR private networks, beamforming, etc.)
Comparing 5G NR-Light and 5G NR, 5G NR-Light has a significantly narrower bandwidth, contributing to lower costs.
Furthermore, since communication is possible with one or two receiving antennas, it can be expected to reduce the BOM cost compared to 5G NR, which often requires many antennas.
A point to note when using 5G NR-Light is that it only supports SA (Stand Alone) connections.
Therefore, it is necessary to use it on a public network in a local 5G or SA compatible area.
In addition, it is recommended that 5G NR will continue to be used for large-capacity communication applications.
*It is also necessary to check the trends of each carrier's base station regarding whether or not 5G NR-related services are supported.
in conclusion
This time, we introduced an overview of 5G NR-Light.
Please feel free to contact us about the release trends of 5G NR-Light compatible modules.
We also currently handle 3GPP Rel.15 and Rel.16 compliant 5G NR modules and LTE modules.
We will continue to research market trends and provide information, so please look forward to the next article.
Inquiry
For inquiries about Qualcomm products and 5G NR/LTE communication modules, please use the link below.
To Qualcomm manufacturer information Top
To return to the Qualcomm manufacturer information Top page, please click below.