Topic- 5G Frame Structure.

One major new feature of 5G is multiple numerologies which can be mixed and used simultaneously.
A numerology is defined by its subcarrier spacing (the width of subcarriers in the frequency domain) and
by its cyclic prefix.

Each numerology μ represents subcarrier spacing.

Following is the table used for determining different subcarrier spacing based on selected μ and CP.

Frames & Subframes

▪ Downlink and Uplink transmissions are organized into frames . Each frame is of 10 ms duration .
▪ Each frame is divided into 10 subframes, subframe duration is 1 ms.
▪ Each subframe is further divided into multiple OFDM symbols. Number of OFDM symbols depends
on selected numerology called as mu (greek letter μ).
▪ Number of OFDM symbols can be determined using following table , blue highlighted column is
about number of OFDM symbols in one slot and yellow column is number of slots in one subframe.
▪ Number of OFDM symbols in one slots is always fixed (14) but number of slots in one subframe is
variable and it depends on selected μ.
Few examples—

when μ = 0
Number of OFDM symbols in one slot = 14
Number of Slots in one subframe = 1, hence in 1 ms there will be 14 OFDM symbols

when μ = 2
Number of Slots in 1 subframe = 4

when μ = 3
Number of Slots in 1 subframe = 8

when μ = 4
Number of Slots in 1 subframe = 16