The 5G New Radio (NR) technology rollout has begun worldwide. Since the 3GPP standardized Release 15 rolled out in late 2018, 5G NR has primarily targeted three different use cases: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC).
Unlike previous mobile network generations, 5G NR will not completely replace 4G LTE. Rather, it will coexist with the established 4G LTE network to seamlessly provide a superior user experience. Release 16, which came out in July of 2020, and the upcoming Release 17 are both intended to enhance 5G NR in terms of capacity, coverage, latency, and more.
Millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology is an essential aspect of the 5G mobile network, with massive data capacity demand being the primary driving factor to accelerate 5G mmWave implementation. mmWave in 5G NR, known as Frequency Range 2 (FR2, 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz), provides superior channel bandwidth, which enables significantly higher data rates and network capacity compared with sub-6-GHz (FR1) 5G systems.