Special Issue on "Access Technology in 5G and Mobile Communication Networks"

This Special Issue will present the most recent advances with respect to the theoretical foundations and practical implementation of 5G access communication and its evolution.

During the last decade, 5G technology has been developed and successfully commercialized for mobile communication networks. 5G technology supports enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) communication, massive machine type communications (mMTC) for Internet of Things (IoT), devices and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) for mission-critical devices with IMT-2020 standard aims.

Some key technologies, such as 5G numerology with new radio (NR) waveform in sub- or above 6 GHz (mmWave) bands and MIMO with beamforming, allow those heterogeneous devices or services to overcome their own challenging scenarios. Still, 5G access technology has further challenges, as it is now evolving with convergence technologies, such as autonomously driven vehicles, smart factories, satellite or UAS, public safety, etc. This 5G+ demands more bandwidth, connectivity, and reliability.

Wireless communications in the Terahertz (THz) frequency band and unlicensed bands such as private 5G are considered to provide ultra-high user data rates. Further, nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes have been explored for spectral efficiency and massive connectivity. V2X communication using mmWave side-links is not under-standardized. 5G and 6G now consider interoperation of GEO or LEO satellites and UAS to control autonomous vehicles, including drones, and provide wide-area cells for public safety or content broadcast. This nationwide cell can improve reliability and service continuity. As 5G+ pursues more than low-latency end-to-end access delay (<1 ms), mobile edge computing (MEC) has received attention in terms of supporting the requirements of network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined networking (SDN) to improve performance.

This Special Issue will present the most recent advances with respect to the theoretical foundations and practical implementation of 5G access communication and its evolution. Further information can be found at the Electronics Journal webpage.