9/14/21, 12:45 PM 5G | ShareTechnote

5G/NR - Numerology                                           Home
: www.sharetechnote.com
 
 
 
 
Even though Numerology is one of the most widely discussed item at 3GPP RAN1 meeting before NR Technical
Specification is finalized, it sounds very vague to me. I think I understand what it indicates, but I still don't
understand the meaning of Numerology in ordinary dictionary can be associated with what it means in NR.

Definition of Numerology
Numerology and Supported Channels
Numerology in RRC message
Why different Numerologies ?

 
 
 
Definition of Numerology
 
The very simple defination of Numerology based on the usage of the term in 3GPP specification would be 'subcarrier
spacing  type'. In LTE, we don't need any specific terminology to indicate the subcarrier spacing since there is only one
subcarrier spacing, but in NR there are several different types of subcarrier spacing as summarized in the following
table.
 
< 38.211 - Table 4.2-1: Supported transmission numerologies >

 
 
To help you understand the meaning of each numerology more intuitively I tried to visualize the table as follows.
 (NOTE: Numberology 5 was defined in an early specification, but removed from the specification.)
 

https://www.sharetechnote.com 1/5
9/14/21, 12:45 PM 5G | ShareTechnote

 
 
 
Numerology and Supported Channels
 
Not every numerology can be used for every physical channel and signals. That is, there is a specific numerologies
that are used only for a certain type of physical channels even though majority of the numerologies can be used any
type of physical channels. Following table shows which numerologies can be used for which physical channels.
 
< 38.300-Table 5.1-1: Supported transmission numerologies and additional info.>
Subcarrier
Supported for Data Supported for Sync
Numerology Spacing CP type PRACH
(PDSCH, PUSCH etc) (PSS,SSS,PBCH)
(kHz)
N/A 1.25   No No Long Preamble
N/A 5   No No Long Preamble
0 15 Normal Yes Yes Short Preamble
1 30 Normal Yes Yes Short Preamble
2 60 Normal,Extended Yes No Short Preamble
3 120 Normal Yes Yes Short Preamble
4 240 Normal No Yes  

https://www.sharetechnote.com 2/5
9/14/21, 12:45 PM 5G | ShareTechnote
 
 
 
Numerology in RRC message
 
Numerology selection is not a static. Different numerology (Subcarrier Spacing) can be used in various different
situation and purpose. The subcarrier spacing for different situation and purpose is defined in various places in RRC
messages as follows.
 
Message/ASN Sequence IE Description
Subcarrier spacing for SIB1, Msg.2/4 for initial access and
MIB subCarrierSpacingCommon
SI-messages
Subcarrier spacing to be used in this BWP. It is applied to
BandwidthPart-Config subcarrierSpacing
at least PDCCH, PDSCH and corresponding DMRS
LogicalChannelConfig allowedSubCarrierSpacing  
ReferenceSignalConfig subcarrierSpacing  
CSI-RS-ResourceConfig- subcarrier spacing of CSI-RS. It can take the same values
subcarrierSpacing
Mobility available also for the data channels and for SSB
RACH-ConfigCommon msg2-SubcarrierSpacing  
RACH-ConfigCommon msg3-SubcarrierSpacing  
RACH-ConfigDedicated rar-SubcarrierSpacing  
Subcarrier spacing for SIB1, Msg.2/4 for initial access and
SI-messages.
ServingCellConfigCommon subcarrierSpacingCommon Values 15, and 30 kHz are applicable for carrier
frequencies < 6GHz; Values 60 and 120 kHz are
applicable for carrier frequencies > 6GHz
Subcarrier spacing of SSB. Used only for non-initial access
(e.g. SCells, PCell of SCG).
ServingCellConfigCommon subcarrierSpacingSSB
If the field is absent the UE shall assume the default value
of the band.
BasebandParametersPerCC subCarrierSpacing  
 
 
 
Why different Numerologies ?
 
Now you have some important questions on NR Numerology design. You might have these questions even before you
went through all the details described above. The question that I had when I first heard of this kind of multiple
numerology (basically multiple subcarrier spacing) was 'WHY we need this kind of multiple numerologies ?'.
One thing for sure is that it is not for making your life difficult as an engineer. Then, what would be other (more
technical) reason ?
 
More technical (practical reason) is

NR should cover very wide range of operating frequency (e.g, sub 3 Ghz, sub 6 Ghz and mmWave(over 25 Ghz).
Due to physics, it is hard (almost impossible) to come up with single numerology (subcarrier space) that can
cover the whole of these range without sacrificing too much of efficiency or performance.

 
Can you be more specific ?

In OFDM, number of subcarrier that can be packed into a specific frequency range is directly related to spectrum
efficiency (how many bits can be transmitter per Hz per second). The more subcarriers you can pack into a
frequency range (i.e, the narrow subcarrier spacing you use), the more data you can transmit (or recieve).
Based on Physics(anti-proportional relationship between subcarrier spacing and OFDM symbo length), Narrow
subcarrier spacing means longer OFDM symbol length. With longer OFDM symbol, we can assign more room for
CP(Cyclick Prefic). With longer CP, we can make the signal more tolerable to fading channel(Ref [33]).
In lower frequency (like sub 3Ghz, sub 6 Ghz), we don't have much wide band spectrum left for this new
technology. In order to pack as many subcarriers as possible in these limited spectrum, we need to get
subcarrier spacing as small as possible. That's why we use small subcarrier spacing like 15 Khz, 30 Khz, 60 Khz
in NR numerology.
Then, why we don't use even smaller subcarrier like 10 Khz, 5 Khz etc ? As you know, in OFDM maintaining
orthogonolity between subcarriers is critical (See Overview section of OFDM page). The transmitted signal would

https://www.sharetechnote.com 3/5
9/14/21, 12:45 PM 5G | ShareTechnote
go through various fading channel causing the drift of each subcarrier and the degree of the drift gets even
more serious
when the transmitter or reciever moves faster. So the narrower of subcarrier spacing you use, the
tolerance to fading gets weaker.
Then we need very wide subcarrier spacing like 120 Khz or 240 Khz ? It is for the operation in very high
frequency like mmWave. As carrier frequency gets higher, the degree of frequency drift by moving transmitter or
reciever gets higher (i.e, Doppler spread gets wider as carrier frequency gets higher). To tolerate this kind
of
wide range of frequency drift (or shift), we need to use wider subcarrier spacing.
There is another reason for wider subcarrier spacing in mmWave. For the reason as explained here, we would
use beamforming (Massive MIMO based beamforming), for the implementaion of beamforming controlling the
phase of the signal is critical and it is difficult to control the phase of the signal with narrow subcarrier spacing
(Ref
[33]).
As frequency goes higher, the degree of phase noise would increase. So we need to implement more
sophisticated mechanism for phase noise estimation and correction. It is easier to implement this kind
mechanism with wider subcarrier spacing(Ref [33]).  

 
 
 
UE Capability
 
FeatureSetDownlinkPerCC ::= SEQUENCE {
   supportedSubcarrierSpacingDL               SubcarrierSpacing,
   supportedBandwidthDL                       SupportedBandwidth,
   channelBW-90mhz                            ENUMERATED {supported} OPTIONAL,
   maxNumberMIMO-LayersPDSCH                  MIMO-LayersDL OPTIONAL,
   supportedModulationOrderDL                 ModulationOrder OPTIONAL
}
 
supportedSubcarrierSpacingDL : Defines the supported sub-carrier spacing for DL by the UE indicating the UE
supports simultaeous reception with same or different numerologies in CA. Note the UE shall support all mandated
sub-carrier spacing for FR1/FR2.
Same numerology for intraband NR CA including both continuous and non-continuous
is mandatory with capability in both FR1 and FR2. Two mixed numerologies between FR1 band(s) and FR2 band(s) in
DL are mandatory with capability if UE supports inter-band NR CA including both FR1 band(s) and FR2 band(s).
Optional for other cases.
 
 
 
Reference
 
[1] 3GPP R1-166225. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Considerations on numerology for support of flexible guard
lengths
[2] 3GPP R1-166346. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Forward compatibility consideration for NR frame structure
[3] 3GPP R1-166360. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 -  URLLC numerology and frame structure design
[4] 3GPP R1-166363. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Scaled Numerology Control Design for NR
[5] 3GPP R1-166364 . 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - NR numerology scaling and alignment
[6] 3GPP R1-166471. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion of NR Numerology
[7] 3GPP R1-166490. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Numerology impact on power efficiency for mMTC
[8] 3GPP R1-166637. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on numerology multiplexing
[9] 3GPP R1-166676. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - TDD frame structure with mixed numerology
[10] 3GPP R1-166747. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Evaluation results of OFDM-based waveform in DL and UL
single numerology case
[11] 3GPP R1-166748. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Evaluation results of OFDM-based waveform in DL and UL
mixed numerology case    
[12] 3GPP R1-166749. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Evaluation results of OFDM-based waveform in UL single
numerology and asynchronous case
[13] 3GPP R1-166753. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on symbol alignment across scaled numerology
[14] 3GPP R1-166754. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on numerology support
[15] 3GPP R1-166795. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on numerology aspects of NR synchronization
signal
[16] 3GPP R1-166878. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on alignment for different numerology
multiplexing
[17] 3GPP R1-166879. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Further evaluation results on different numerology
[18] 3GPP R1-166939. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Numerology evaluation results for high speed scenario
[19] 3GPP R1-166940. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on numerology multiplexing in NR
[20] 3GPP R1-166941. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - On design of mixed numerology in a NR carrier
[21] 3GPP R1-167004. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on numerology

https://www.sharetechnote.com 4/5
9/14/21, 12:45 PM 5G | ShareTechnote
[22] 3GPP R1-167034. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - On PA impact to in mixed numerology with narrow band
allocation
[23] 3GPP R1-167035. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - On PA impact to in mixed numerology with wide band
allocation
[24] 3GPP R1-167040. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - On scalable numerology  
[25] 3GPP R1-167106. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Phase Noise Measurement/Modeling and LLS for High
Frequency Numerology
[26] 3GPP R1- 167107. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion and Evaluation on Numerology Design for High
Speed Train Scenario
[27] 3GPP R1-167218. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Numerology and Frame Structure for NR-Unlicensed
[28] 3GPP R1-167260. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Resource block and guard band arrangement supporting
mixed numerology
[29] 3GPP R1-167261. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - On resource block grouping and multi-cell coordination
aspects for mixed numerology support    
[30] 3GPP R1-167394. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Views on NR numerology    
[31] 3GPP R1-167527. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Discussion on NR Numerology   
[32] 3GPP R1-167564. 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #86 - Impact of numerology on the non-CP based waveforms
[33] NR Wide Bandwidth Operations by Jeongho Jeon, Intel Corporation  
 
 

 
 

https://www.sharetechnote.com 5/5