Practical 5G KPI Measurement Results on a Non-Standalone Architecture

While mobile network operators have started announcing their 5G-capable network implementations, practical details of their capabilities are not widely supported through measurements. This paper describes a practically implemented 5G architecture – based on the 5G Option 3x reference model – and initial results on its KPI (Key Performance Indicator) measurements.Beside being matched against the 5G network expectations, the results are compared to our actual hands-on 4G network measurements. The analysis of the 5G testbed result shows that – as expected – 5G outperforms 4G in all basic KPIs, including up- and downlink throughput as well as latency. Furthermore, the practical measurement results on this non-standalone 5G architecture show that – when traffic preferences are configured well – latency and jitter are not significantly affected by the load of the cell or the core network. This is a long-awaited proof on 5G KPI promises coming true.