Ultra reliable low latency communication (URLLC) in 5G networks

Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) is an important building block of fifth generation (5G) wireless networks. Indeed, it is mission critical (ultra low latency and ultra high reliability) and caters to a specific audience which is mission critical.

BUILDING ON THE 5G ECOSYSTEM: While 5G supports Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), URLLC is designed to serve real time applications in which the implementation of such an amount of latency can result in severe consequences, e.g. in a self driving car, medicine or industrial automation. Based on that, this essay examines URLLC’s importance in 5G, its main properties, current research, and real world examples.

Also we will analyze how 5G URLLC compares to other 5G communication technologies and what are the challenges to be addressed during the implementation as well as how they can be solved.

URLLC Concept and Its Role in 5G Networks

One out of three cornerstone services of 5G is URLLC, together with eMBB and mMTC. eMBB is for the high speed data, mMTC is about the connectivity for billions of low power IoT devices, and URLLC for cases where reliability and low latency are very important. URLLC offers an error rate of less than 10^-5 and sub 1 millisecond latency, allowing new types of services with instantaneous data exchange.

URLLC is relevant to the context of 5G, which means providing critical operations, where downtime or delay is not accepted. This happens, for example, in the healthcare field where remote surgery or real time patient monitoring must deliver data instantaneously, without losses or delays. URLLC also relies on synchronized precision in manufacturing and industrial automation, allowing robots and machines to work together without errors, which could cause costly disruptions and accidents.

Underlying the importance of URLLC is decreasing delay with high robustness of the connection in order to allow mission critical applications to run reliably in environments with varying levels of interference and network traffic.

URLLC Key Features and Benefits

1. Ultra-Reliability: URLLC is engineered to ensure near perfect reliability, to the point of one packet being lost in a million. Techniques such as packet duplication are used which send multiple copies of data on different network paths, increasing the odds that at least one packet will arrive. For critical applications where even one packet loss can lead to disaster, this is vitally important.

2. Low Latency: Another defining feature of URLLC is to achieve ultra low latency which is less than 1 millisecond. It is necessary for real time dependency applications like autonomous vehicles, which need feedback and decision making in real time. In todays networks, like 5G technology sending data happens quickly with Transmission time intervals (TTI) which can be as short, as 1 ms. This is done to ensure responses and adjust to link situations. Multi Access Edge Computing (MEC) is also used to handle data to the user. This helps in cutting down transmission times and boosting the networks overall latency performance.

3. Real-World Use Cases:

● Autonomous Vehicles: URLLC helps autonomous driving by enabling real time communication between vehicles (Vehicle to Vehicle or V2V) and between vehicles and infrastructure (Vehicle to Everything or V2X). This low latency, ultra reliable communication is critically important to applications such as collision avoidance, traffic management, real time navigation, etc. For the safety and efficiency of automated systems, URLLC is needed to prevent serious accidents from delayed transmission of this information.

● Smart Factories: URLLC is crucial to Industry 4.0, where robotic machinery and automated systems rely on reliable communication with their environment on an extremely short timescale. A URLLC network can support precise control of machinery movement with very little error, achieve significantly increased production efficiency by facilitating near-instantaneous data transmission and final decision making, and therefore results in smoother and

safer industrial processes.

● Healthcare: Most distinctly, URLLC is used in the real-time manipulation of robotic instruments in telemedicine, especially in remote surgeries. Incorrect movements could cause any latency or reliability issues on the patients safety.

● Enhanced Security: Secure communication protocols for critical infrastructure and sensitive operations are also supported by URLLC. Take for example smart grids where URLLC is used to transmit the real time data about power usage and health of equipment securely in such a way that cyber attacks or system malfunctions which cause power outages across widespread regions are prevented.