Recommended 5G frequency bands evaluation
Andrey Tikhomirov1, Elena Omelyanchuk2, Anastasia Semenova3
Telecommunication systems department
National Research University of Electronic Technology (MIET)
Moscow, Russia
1
tcs@miee.ru, 2omelia81@gmail.com, 3semenova.anastasia.y@gmail.com, 1tikhomirov.a.2018@mail.ru
Abstract—For the development of mobile communication
systems of fifth generation (5G) a number of frequency bands are
currently proposed in Russian Federation. Since the 5G standard
does not yet exist and the requirements for 5G systems are very
wide, a detailed analysis is needed to select the frequency band
for 5G networks. The article presents the main problems that
should be solved in order to implement 5G and whether its
requirements can be achieved in the recommended frequency
bands. Evaluation of the possibility of using each band was made
with regard to the corresponding problems, system goals and link
budget estimation. MmWaves may be recommended for the
stationary network devices, while for mobile services it is
proposed to use frequencies below 6 GHz.
Keywords—5G, frequency band selection, radio link budget,
radio link capacity, radiowave propagation
I. INTRODUCTION
In accordance with “Digital economy” program of Russian
Federation in 2018 frequency bands should be chosen for 5G
mobile networks deployment in regard to the concept of the 5th
generation of mobile communications and provider
capabilities [1]. By the end of 2020 mobile communication
providers should be granted radio frequency bands for 5G
deployment in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. If
necessary, radio frequency spectrum is to be rearranged.
Currently several bands are reserved for 5th generation
mobile communications tests and deployment: 3.4 – 3.8 GHz,
25.5 – 27.0 GHz [2]. Though without a new standard these
bands are not fixed and also do not limit frequencies that can
be used in 5G. 3GPP proposes the usage of different frequency
bands 450 – 960 MHz, 3 – 6 GHz, 24.25 – 52.6 GHz, 66 –
86 GHz [3], when the exact bands could be chosen depending
on the communication link application.
At present all radio frequencies are divided into two large
groups in relation to the possibility of 5G system
implementation: below 6 GHz and above 6 GHz. Frequencies
above 6 GHz are not widely used in mobile communications
and require additional hardware development, especially in
mmWave (above 30 GHz). Design of wideband amplifiers,
antennas and antenna arrays is necessary before 5G systems
deployment thus causing high development cost. Therefore
mobile communication providers in Russia will be able to test
5G devices and algorithms in 2.5 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands.
ITU also suggests 694 – 790 MHz band, which is used in
Russia for digital video broadcasting [4].
978-1-5386-5622-8/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Patras. Downloaded on December 05,2020 at 15:36:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Considering that there are several frequency bands which
can be used for 5G system development and tests, bands for
system implementation should be chosen regarding to 5G
transmission requirements, such as spectrum efficiency,
energy efficiency and user equipment velocity.
II. 5G SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
5G mobile communication standard also referred to as
IMT-2020 aims to improve parameters of previous generation
systems, including last modification of 4G, or IMT-Advanced,
also referred to as 4.5G. Moreover 5G aims to combine
different applications and mobile communication systems in
single network in order to perform different functions more
efficiently. Thus 5G standard implies to use new approaches
to mobile network development and find new techniques to
fulfill the requirements of IMT-2020.
To determine main parameters of 5G mobile
communication system one must take into consideration the
proposed division of such a system into three segments:
• eMBB - enchanced mobile broadband, used for
resource-intensive applications and wideband Internet
access;
• mMTC - massive machine type communications, used
for functioning of large-scale applications of IoT;
• URLLC - ultra-reliable and low latency
communications for applications like autonomous
vehicles.
5G requirements and their advantages over 4G systems
parameters are shown in Table I [5]. Requirements for each
segment have different priorities depending on the application,
so parameters shown in Table I should not necessarily have
exact maximum values for 5G networks in general. For
mMTC the connection density is the highest priority, while
spectrum efficiency and peak data rate are not important. For
URLLC mobility and latency parameters are the highest
priority, for eMBB such parameters are area traffic capacity,
peak data rate, user experienced data rate and mobility, though
latency and connection density are also important. So eMBB
segment has the highest requirements and is the most
challenging to develop.
General 5G requirements determine system parameters
such as parameters of physical layer including frequency band
and bandwidth.
The work was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and
Education of Russia (Grant No. 14.578.21.0249, ID RFMEFI57817X0249)
 TABLE I. FORTH AND FITH GENERATION REQUIREMENTS Different cell ranges also can be classified for three
Parameter IMT-2020 IMT-Advanced applications:
Area traffic capacity, Mbps/m 10 0.1 • Indoor (25 m) – mMTC, Indoor Hotspot-eMBB;
Peak data rate, Gbps 20 1 • Urban (500 m) – URLLC, Dense Urban-eMBB;
User experienced data rate, Mbps 100 10 • Rural (2000 m) – Rural-eMBB.
Spectrum efficiency, bps/Hz 30 10 Evidently frequency band used for mobile communication
Mobility, km/h 500 350 is connected with the cell range as signal attenuation
parameters can differ for different environments and
Latency, ms 1 10 frequencies. Table II shows cell types parameters depending
Connection density, dev/km 10 6
105 on their range [8].

III. SYSTEM PARAMETERS TABLE II. CELL TYPES PARAMETERS

A. Communication range Cell type Transmission power Cell range Location

To define cell range for 5th generation mobile network one
should use BS antenna parameters. In [7] it is proposed that
three antennas with main beam of 120 ° are used. Therefore if
one antenna transmits with the peak spectrum efficiency then
to fulfill the area traffic capacity requirements cell range must
reach the value of 44 m. Considering that area traffic capacity
should not necessarily have its maximum value in every point
and also that close placement of base stations (BS) greatly
adds to the cost of communication services it is possible to
suggest that cell range for eMBB can be greater. Moreover
October 2017 draft report on IMT-2020 by ITU-R proposes
different scenarios for 5G mobile networks in eMBB segment
[7].
• Indoor Hotspot-eMBB. An office or shopping center
scenario with high density of user equipment (UE),
which can be stationary or move slowly (velocity does
not exceed 10 km/h). Data rates must reach maximum
values so BS must be placed closely to each other, the
distance of 20 meters is suggested.
• Dense Urban-eMBB. This scenario for urban area with
users moving no faster than 30 km/h suggests that
network structure can be divided into macro-level for
BS and micro-level for access points.
• Rural-eMBB. This scenario for rural environment with
user velocity up to 500 km/h. This value corresponds to
high speed train movement. For Russia nowadays
maximum train speed does not exceed 250 km/h. BS
placement in this scenario is the same as for dense-
urban scenario, but access points should also be placed
alongside motor- and railways.
Based on three proposed applications of 5G systems one
can distinguish several design goals:
• downlink capacity improvement up to 20 Gbps;
• latency decrease to 1 ms;
• user mobility increase to 500 km/h;
• connection density increase up to 1 million devices per
km2.
Macrocell 10…50 W 8…30 km Outdoor
Microcell 1...10 W 0.2…2 km Outdoor/indoor
Picocell 0.25...1 W 0.1…0.2 km Outdoor/indoor
Femtocell 0.001…0.25 W 0.01…0.1 km Indoor
B. Radiowave propagation
Radio wave propagation effects differ depending on signal
frequency.
UHF (300 MHz – 3 GHz) include bands 694-790 MHz and
2.5 GHz. UHF radio waves are also called decimeter waves
and are mostly used in radiolocation, TV, cellular, relay, fixed
and mobile communications. The decimeter radio waves
propagate mainly rectilinearly, undergoing reflections from
smooth obstacles whose surface satisfies the Rayleigh
criterion. At short distances not exceeding the line-of-sight
distance, decimeter waves propagate as terrestrial waves.
Atmospheric phenomena do not have a significant effect on
the propagation of the UHF signal.
SHF (3 GHz – 30 GHz) include bands 3.4 – 3.8 GHz,
5.9 GHz, 25.5 – 27 GHz. Such waves are called centimeter
waves and are mostly used in relay and satellite
communications. Centimeter waves propagate rectilinearly,
dissipating on obstacles whose dimensions are comparable to
the wavelength. SHF signals undergo absorption in
hydrometeors and atmospheric gases (primarily in oxygen and
water vapor). SHF waves are now becoming widely used in
mobile communications.
EHF (30 GHz – 300 GHz) waves are also called millimeter
waves and are lately introduced into radio communications.
Millimeter waves propagate by the ways of geometric optics
and are characterized by refraction in the inhomogeneities of
the atmosphere and significant absorption in hydrometeors and
in gases. However the main advantage of mmWaves is the
possibility of allocating wide frequency bands that provide
target values for the capacity of radio link, not to mention that
radio spectrum in EHF is not heavily occupied at present.
Table III shows signal attenuation in free space in dB for
every band in question on the maximum distances for three
scenarios.

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Patras. Downloaded on December 05,2020 at 15:36:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Lurban ( NLOS ) = 13.54 + 39.08 ⋅ log10 (d )
(2)
+ 20 ⋅ log10 ( f ) − 0,6(hr − 1.5),

where hr – receive antenna height, m.

TABLE III. ATTENUATION IN FREE SPACE

Frequency band 25 m 500 m 2000 m Lrural ( NLOS ) = 161.04 − 7.1log10 (W ) + 7.5 log 10 (h) −
700 MHz 57.3 83.3 95.4 (24.37 − 37(h / ht ) 2 ) log10 (ht ) +
(3)
2.5 GHz 68.4 94.4 106.4 (43.42 − 3.1log 10 (ht ))(log10 (d ) − 3) +
3.6 GHz 71.5 97.5 109.6 20 log10 ( f ) − (3.2(log10 (11.75hr )) 2 − 4.97,
5.9 GHz 75.8 101.8 113.9 where ht – transmit antenna height, m, h – average building
27 GHz 89.0 115.0 127.1 height, m, W – average street width, m.
70 GHz 97.3 123.3 135.4 Calculations according to (1–3) show estimated worst case
86 GHz 99.1 125.1 137.2
path loss for different cell ranges and respective scenarios.
Attenuation in free space values represents the best case
results for this scenarios. Obtained results allow estimating
Table 3 shows approximate attenuation for different link budget depending on chosen frequency band.
frequency bands considering cell ranges for different
applications of communication systems. Taking this in the IV. LINK BUDGET ESTIMATION
account one can propose to consider three cases for which First of all the necessary bandwidth should be calculated.
frequency band selection for 5G systems should be made. The Considering the required user experienced rate and maximum
corresponding aims can be posed as follows: spectrum efficiency, one could estimate that the bandwidth
• radio link capacity increase up to 20 Gbps for BS should not be less than 3.3 MHz. For full duplex link this
indoors for femtocells; value doubles, and to ensure the maintenance traffic
transmission hereby the bandwidth is assumes equal to 10
• user mobility increase to 500 km/h in rural MHz.
environment for microcells;
Maximum frequency band which can possibly be used for
• radio link capacity and user mobility increase in dense every scenario considering the given user velocity can be
urban environment for micro and picocells. estimated by setting the maximum value of Doppler shift.
Assuming it should not be more than 1 kHz for several kHz
Two of the listed cases require peak system parameter
subcarrier interval, maximum frequencies are shown in
values, but the third case is not less challenging to implement,
Table IV along with other parameters of the scenarios which
because to transmit lots of data in in a complex environment
will be used for link budget estimation.
with many buildings to mobile users considering all the
possible interference is a very complicated task. Next part
shows the examples of full path loss calculation for the listed TABLE IV. SCENARIO PARAMETERS
cases.
Scenario Indoor Urban Rural

C. Path loss calculation Maximum distance, m 25 500 2000

Path loss calculation can be carried out using existing BS antenna height, m 3 25 35
propagation models. Propagation models are often empirical UE antenna height, m 1.5 1.5 1.5
and operable for different frequency bands and environments.
Several types of models can be distinguished, among them are Maximum UE velocity, km/h 3 30 500
models for indoor radio wave propagation, urban area Maximum frequency, GHz 360 36 2.2
propagation, propagation in vegetation. This work is not
dedicated to propagation models review. The expressions BS power, W 0.25 10 10
which are relevant to the listed cases proposed by 3GPP [10]
are (1–3). Expression (1) allows estimating the attenuation
indoors for non-line-of-sight case for frequencies from 0.5 Radio link budget equation can be expressed as follows:
GHz to 100 GHz: Pt G t = −228,6 − Q + h 2 + R + L, dB, (4)
Lindoor ( NLOS ) = 17.3 + 38.3 ⋅ log 10 (d ) + 24.9 ⋅ log 10 ( f ), (1)
where R – data transmission rate, L – path loss, Q – quality
where f – frequency, GHz, d – distance, m. factor of the receiver, or its sensitivity, h2 – signal to noise
ratio needed, Pt – transmitter power, Gt – transmitter antenna
Expressions (2) and (3) can be used for urban and rural gain.
environment respectively.

Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Patras. Downloaded on December 05,2020 at 15:36:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 Fig. 1 illustrates radio link budget estimation according to
(4) for three scenarios: indoor, urban and rural for frequency
bands in question. Maximum path loss is calculated using (1-
3), R taken as user experienced data rate for 5G, i.e. 100
Mbps, and Q considered equal to -80 dBm. Transmitter
antenna gain was left out as the estimation is not very accurate
and does not consider the EIRP limitations for given bands.
Still it gives clear view on energy efficiency requirements to
make sure spectral efficiency requirements for 5G are
fulfilled. E.g. for QAM-256 24 dB Eb/N0 is needed, and that
gives 8 bps/Hz spectral efficiency only.
Thus achieving BS downlink capacity of 20 Gbps is very
challenging without implementing massive MIMO systems.
For rural-eMBB scenario achieving spectral efficiency of 30
bps/Hz is not even considered as a goal for 5G. It is clear that
in order to achieve maximum traffic capacity and maximum
user velocity different frequency bands should be used. Fig. 1
also illustrates that frequency limitations written in Table IV
generally make sense, though larger frequencies can be used if
carrier frequency synchronization system is good enough.
Estimated budget, dB
Fig. 1. Estimated radio link budget for three scenarios.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In order to select frequency band for 5th generation mobile
communication systems all of the possible bands must be
evaluated from different points of view. This article considers
5G system requirements and the intended system applications
as well as the physical layer parameters. Considering
propagation loss and Doppler shift it is preferable to use lower
frequency bands, while in order to achieve higher spectral
efficiency and overall radio link capacity it is preferable to use
higher frequencies. Dividing spectrum into bands below 6
GHz and above 6 GHz, it should be concluded that using
frequencies above 6 GHz the highest transmission rates may
be achieved, but it will require the placement of base stations
at short distances from one another, which significantly
increases the cost of implementing communication system.
For mobile broadband connection of fixed user stations
and users moving with low velocity indoors, since the base
stations can be placed very close, it seems reasonable to select
Authorized licensed use limited to: University of Patras. Downloaded on December 05,2020 at 15:36:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
the 3.4-3.8 GHz or 25.5-27.0 GHz bands as providing
sufficient bandwidth to achieve the desired capacity of the
radio channel.
For mobile broadband subscribers moving with medium
velocity, which corresponds to urban case, it is preferable to
use either the lowest band 694-790 MHz or the 3.4-3.8 GHz
band to achieve sufficient capacity with a large number of
network subscribers. For mobile broadband subscribers
moving at medium and high speeds, which corresponds to
rural case, it is preferable to use the lowest band 694-790
MHz, since it is necessary first of all to maintain
communication with mobile subscribers under conditions of
high Doppler carrier frequency shift.
In all cases, as the operating frequency increases, the
number of base stations per unit area for 5G mobile
communication network should be increased in order to
provide a sufficiently high throughput per unit area in the
coverage area. Radio link budget estimation was carried out
and the results demonstrate that 3.4-3.8 GHz band sets a
reasonable trade-off for most environments, though it may
also be proposed to detach fixed or moving slowly network
elements from others to achieve better performance.
References
[1] Programma “Tsifrovaya ekonomica Rossiyskoy Federacii”. [accessed
2017 december 24].
http://static.government.ru/media/files/9gFM4FHj4PsB79I5v7yLVuPgu
4bvR7M0.pdf
[2] Resheniye GKRCH – Prilozheniyee №7 k resheniyu GKRCH. [accessed
2017 december 24]. http://minsvyaz.ru/uploaded/files/prilozhenie--7-k-
resheniyu-gkrch-17-42-08-2_wfpPcym.pdf
[3] Guidelines for evaluation of radio interface technologies for IMT-2020.
October 2017, Revision 1 to Document 5/57-E. [accessed 2017
december 24]. https://www.itu.int/md/R15-SG05-C-0057/en
[4] E. Sergina. Evropa vibrala dlya razvitiya 5G chastoti 700 MHz.
[accessed 2017 december 24].
https://www.vedomosti.ru/technology/articles/2017/04/26/687439-
evropa-5g
[5] International Telecommunication Union. Minimum requirements related
to technical performance for IMT-2020 radio interface(s), 2017, vol. 0,
p. 9.
[6] Geneva Mission Briefing Series. Emerging trends in 5G/IMT2020.
[accessed 2017 december 19].
https://www.itu.int/en/membership/Documents/missions/GVA-mission-
briefing-5G-28Sept2016.pdf
[7] G. Al-Juboori, A. Doufexi, A.R. Nix. System Level 5G Evaluation of
MIMO-GFDM in an LTE-A Platform. 2017 24th International
Conference on Telecommunications (ICT), Limassol, 2017, pp. 1-5.
[8] Nguyen T. Small Cell Networks and the Revolution of 5G. [accessed
2017 december 21]. http://www.qorvo.com/design-hub/blog/small-cell-
networks-and-the-evolution-of-5g
[9] Razvitiye setey 5G v Rossii. [accessed 2017 december 19].
http://www.tadviser.ru/index.php/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%8
2%D1%8C%D1%8F:%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%B2%D0%B8
%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%B5_%D1%81%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%
D0%B9_5G_%D0%B2_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%
B8%D0%B8
[10] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Study on channel model for
frequencies from 0.5 to 100 GHz.). TR 38.901 V14.0.0, May. 2017.
[Online]. Available: http://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/38901.htm
.