Project 1/WP1: System design and propagation channels

Lead: Fredrik Tufvesson (LU)
Co-lead: Erik G. Larsson (LiU)

5G wireless communications is expected to handle much more demanding application scenarios than previous generations, with high expectations on power and spectral efficiencies combined with tighter demands on both latency and reliability. These new requirements have lead both to adaptation of new and radically different physical layer mechanisms and a need for better and more detailed understanding of wireless propagation environments. Massive MIMO has taken the exploitation of the spatial dimension of wireless propagation environments to entirely new levels, leading to massive improvements of spectral and energy efficiencies.

Despite this, the full exploitation of the spatial domain is inhibited by system design methodologies being mostly based on idealized assumptions and rather limited detail knowledge about spatial properties of real propagation channels. This WP will address 5G physical layer design where detailed knowledge of spatial properties of propagation environments play a central role in increasing efficiency, performance, and reliability. This is done jointly with measurement, characterization, and modeling of real propagation channels in the 1-30 GHz frequency range.

This WP will interact with all project WPs, focusing on higher layer functions together with WP2, system implementation issues with WP3/WP4, and latency/reliability issues with WP5/WP6.