5G NR-Light (RedCap): Revolutionizing IoT | Qualcomm

5G is envisioned and being designed to serve an unprecedented range of capabilities with a single global standard. With enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive IoT (mIoT), and mission-critical IoT, the three pillars of 5G represent extremes in performance and associated complexity. For massive IoT services, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) devices prioritize low power consumption and the lowest complexity for wide-area deployments (LPWA), while enhanced ultra-reliable, low-latency communication (eURLLC) devices deliver on the most stringent use case requirements in industry. But there exists an opportunity to address a broad range of mid-tier applications more efficiently, with capabilities between these extremes.

Establishing a new device class — 5G NR-Light — in 5G standards

In 5G NR Release 17, 3GPP introduced a new tier of reduced capability (RedCap) devices, also known as NR-Light. It is a new device platform that bridges the capability and complexity gap between the extremes in 5G today with an optimized design for mid-tier use cases. When compared to 5G enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) devices that can support gigabits per second of throughput in the downlink and uplink, NR-Light devices can efficiently support 150 Mbps and 50 Mbps in the downlink and uplink, respectively, due to the designed optimizations:

• narrower bandwidths, i.e., 20 MHz in sub-7 GHz or 100 MHz in millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands,
• a single transmit antenna,
• a single receive antenna, with 2 antennas being optional,
• optional support for half-duplex FDD,
• lower-order modulation, with 256-QAM being optional, and
• support for lower transmit power

The reduced complexity contributes to more cost-efficient NR-Light devices, longer battery life due to lower power consumption, and a smaller device footprint, which enables newer designs for a broad range of use cases. 

NR-Light is an integral part of the 5G roadmap and evolution

The first release of the 5G NR standard, 3GPP Release 15, supported two device tiers for massive IoT, i.e., eMTC or Cat-M1 for 1.4 MHz channels, and NB-IoT for 200 kHz channels. With improvements introduced in 3GPP Release 16, both these device tiers can coexist with 5G devices in the same 5G NR channel. 3GPP Release 16 also introduced another 5G device tier for eURLLC to meet the stringent requirements of mission-critical IoT, with support for millisecond latencies and 99.9999% reliability. 

NR-Light in 3GPP Release 17 can coexist with these IoT device tiers, and eMBB devices, in the same 5G NR channel. Moreover, just as the 5G NR standard will continue to evolve, NR-Light is set to evolve in Release 18 with a focus on positioning performance requirements and enhancements. Device-to-device communications over 5G sidelink interfaces could be another evolution vector for NR-Light in Release 18 and beyond.

Ushering in the next wave of 5G expansion

5G NR-Light brings the mix of capabilities in throughput, battery life, complexity, and device density needed to cost-effectively power diverse use cases. For instance, NR-Light can power the smart city of the future with applications in smart grids, environmental sensors, predictive maintenance, utility meters, high-resolution surveillance, and more.

For industrial applications, NR-Light can also improve operational efficiencies with optimized cost structures for the robust industrial IoT, accelerating the industry 4.0 transformation with 5G private networks. NR-Light brings reliable wireless connectivity and seamless mobility to the devices used in industry and enterprise. It can connect more equipment with fewer cables, process monitoring sensors for deeper operational insight, smart surveillance cameras for personnel safety, and handheld and wearable devices for richer human-machine interaction.

The small device size, long battery life, and substantial throughput of NR-Light devices makes it ideal for many mobile consumer applications as well, such as high-end smart watches, health monitors, broadband access for entry-level devices like tablets and smartphones, and boundless augmented reality (AR) glasses.

As NR-Light devices proliferate, more applications can benefit from on-device AI and intelligence at the network edge, expanding the connected intelligent edge, and further shifting the center of data gravity away from large regional and central clouds.

Future-proof new mid-tier IoT designs with 5G NR-Light

Today, mid-tier IoT devices rely on LTE Cat-1bis and LTE Cat-4 devices for wide-area wireless connectivity and mobility. While LTE networks are expected to coexist with 5G networks in the foreseeable future, 5G NR-Light can offer a new level of capability, efficiency, and flexibility. NR-Light can deliver higher throughput, lower latency, longer battery life, better network security, and an optimized cost structure for such applications. As the 5G evolution continues, there will come a time in the future when communications service providers start to migrate away from 4G toward 5G. With this in mind, 5G NR-Light becomes the platform of choice for future-proofing new mid-tier IoT designs.

Summary

3GPP Release 17 introduced Reduced Capability or NR-Light–a new device tier integral to the 5G NR roadmap and evolution, with a set of requirements optimized for mid-tier IoT use cases. NR-Light cost-effectively delivers throughputs of 150 and 50 Mbps in the downlink and uplink, respectively, significantly exceeding the capabilities of NB-IoT and eMTC (Cat-M1). With NR-Light, “reduced capability” can mean broader applicability–serving use cases in industry and enterprise verticals, and consumer applications. NR-Light’s capabilities and advantages also make it the ideal 5G technology for future-proofing new designs for mid-tier IoT use cases which may have used LTE Cat-1bis or Cat-4 devices earlier. With small-sized, power-efficient, secure, cost-effective, and future-proof devices, the connected intelligent edge will expand with 5G NR-Light to serve more use cases than ever before–further shifting the center of gravity for data away from regional clouds to edge clouds and edge devices. I am excited for the future of 5G with NR-Light, and to be working with the world-class team at Qualcomm on ways to evolve the technology for even bigger impact. Stay tuned!