5G Mixed Mode: NR Multicast-Broadcast Services

Abstract

This work presents a potential solution for enabling the use of multicast in the 5G New Radio Release 17, called 5G NR Mixed Mode. The proposed multicast/broadcast mode follows one of the two approaches envisaged in 3GPP, which enables a dynamic and seamless switching between unicast and multicast, both in the downlink and the uplink. This paper also provides a performance evaluation of several IMT-2020 KPIs, including available data rate and spectral efficiency, user and control plane latencies, energy efficiency, and mobility, highlighting the potential advantages of this solution over unicast in relevant scenarios. Finally, other multipoint-based KPIs such as coverage or packet loss rate are also evaluated by means of system level simulations.