Evaluation of 5G NR Link Efficiency in 28 GHz Spectrum Sharing

Access to higher frequency bands, specifically in the millimeterwave (mm-W) is a promising way in fifth generation new radio (5G NR) wireless systems for meeting data rate requirements such as peak rate greater than 10 Gbps and cell edge rate of up to 1 Gbps. However, the emerging 5G NR systems will need to coexist with a number of incumbent systems in these bands. This paper investigates the feasibility of coexistence between a 5G NR system and a fixed satellite service (FSS) earth station (ES) sharing mm-W band, 27.5-28.35 GHz (28 GHz) frequency band. The co-channel sharing scenario considers the fifth generation access point (5G AP) system as a victim receiver while the FSS ES as an incumbent interferer transmitter. The performance assessment is studied by conducting the interference model in the uplink direction, then evaluating the link quality at the 5G AP system in term of spectral efficiency using the block error rate as a sharing constraint. We found that the FSS ES-to-5G AP separation distance is a dominant factor contributing to the 5G NR link efficiency. It is also found that, the transmission power of FSS ES and its elevation angle toward the 5G AP could be a potential issue which suppresses performance of the 5G AP system. Based on the obtained results, the 5G AP system can be developed in sharing scenario with minimizing the protection distance if appropriate design considerations are taken into account.