New Waveforms for New Services in 5G

Fundamental research for 5G is well under way, and mobile communication networks on the brink toward a new innovation cycle including intriguing application visions such as Gigabit wireless connectivity, Internet of Things, and Tactile Internet. From a technical perspective it seems to be utmost challenging to provide uniform service experience to users under the premises of heterogeneous networking or future small-cell scenarios. Not only must the network operators be well prepared to take on the challenge of a much higher per-user rate and increasing overall required bandwidth but also to realize service differentiation with very different (virtually contradicting) application requirements. Consequently, the radio access has to be flexible, scalable, content aware, robust, reliable, and efficient in terms of energy and spectrum. In fact, with the limitations of current 4G system outlined in this chapter, the requirements will put further pressure on the common value chains on which the operators rely in order to compensate for investment costs for future user services. Hence, there is a clear motivation for an innovative and in part disruptive redesign of the physical (PHY) layer as presented in this chapter.