Point-to-Multipoint Communication Enablers for the Fifth Generation of Wireless Systems

Abstract

3GPP has enhanced the point-to-multipoint (PTM) communication capabilities of 4G LTE in all releases since the adoption of eMBMS (enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) in Release 9. Recent enhancements cover not only television services, but also critical, machinetype and vehicular communications, following the backwards-compatibility design philosophy of LTE. This paper discusses the opportunity in the design and standardization of 5G to break with the existing paradigm for PTM transmissions in 4G LTE, where broadcast PTM transmissions were initially conceived as an add-on and pre-positioned service. 5G brings the opportunity to incorporate PTM capabilities as built-in delivery features from the outset, integrating point-topoint (PTP) and PTM modes under one common framework and enabling a dynamic use of PTM to maximize network and spectrum efficiency. This approach will open a door to completely new levels of network management and delivery cost-efficiency. The paper also discusses the implications of PTM for network slicing, to customize and optimize network resources on a common 5G infrastructure to accommodate different use cases and services taking into account the user density.

Roads to Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services in 5G New Radio

“…An initial 3GPP Rel'15 NR was delivered in December 2017 and the final version is expected to be published in June 2018. This work extrapolates the features and technologies most likely to be available and implemented for NR broadcast, such as Media and Entertainment (M&E), Public Warning Systems (PWS), automotive and Internet of Things (IoT) [8], from the state of the art of NR unicast technology and standardisation [9]. These technologies, as well as their LTE counterparts, are evaluated through link level air interface and subsequently system level simulations, providing an objective preliminary insight roads to MBMS provision in 5G NR.…”

Enabling SFN Transmissions in 5G Cloud-RAN Deployments

“…eMBMS first version was introduced back in 3G Release 8, known as MBMS. Over the years, the original system was gradually upgraded with new features and eventually migrated to 4G, while keeping a backwards compatibility philosophy with previous Releases [13]. This development paradigm introduced many limitations in the eMBMS solution, both at Radio and Core side.…”

Performance Evaluation of ATSC 3.0 DASH Over LTE eMBMS

“…In addition to this, with recent 3GPP Release 14, eMBMS has been extended with enTV features. These have enabled TV broadcasters to deliver their services also over eMBMS, by which TV broadcasters can extend their user reach [2] [4]. Some of these features relevant for TV broadcasting organizations are transport-only mode delivery, receive-only mode device support, and Extended MBMS (xMB) interface introduced between Broadcast/Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) and content provider.…”

“…All the advantages aside, however, a crucial question on how to provide sufficient service quality arises. Considering that content providers have optimized their delivery systems for broadcasting such that the service quality is maximized whereas eMBMS has been built upon LTE that is primarily optimized for low latency communications, delivery over eMBMS can encounter problems when providing expected service quality [3][4][5]. Therefore, understanding the broadcasting capabilities and possible limitations of eMBMS is of utmost importance.…”