Non-Orthogonal Multiplexing of Ultra-Reliable and Broadband Services in Fog-Radio Architectures

TL;DR

This paper proposes a non-orthogonal multiplexing scheme for URLLC and eMBB services in 5G fog-radio architectures, enabling simultaneous low-latency and high-efficiency communications through edge and cloud processing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel non-orthogonal coexistence method for URLLC and eMBB in fog-radio setups, optimizing performance with practical considerations.

Findings

Edge processing guarantees URLLC low latency.

Centralized baseband processing enhances eMBB spectral efficiency.

The proposed scheme effectively manages heterogeneous service requirements.

Abstract

The fifth generation (5G) of cellular systems is introducing Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) services alongside more conventional enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) traffic. Furthermore, the 5G cellular architecture is evolving from a base station-centric deployment to a fog-like set-up that accommodates a flexible functional split between cloud and edge. In this paper, a novel solution is proposed that enables the non-orthogonal coexistence of URLLC and eMBB services by processing URLLC traffic at the Edge Nodes (ENs), while eMBB communications are handled centrally at a cloud processor as in a Cloud-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) system. This solution guarantees the low-latency requirements of the URLLC service by means of edge processing, e.g., for vehicle-to-cellular use cases, as well as the high spectral efficiency for eMBB traffic via centralized baseband processing. Both uplink and downlink are analyzed by accounting for the heterogeneous performance requirements of eMBB and URLLC traffic and by considering practical aspects such as fading, lack of channel state information for URLLC transmitters, rate adaptation for eMBB transmitters, finite fronthaul capacity, and different coexistence strategies, such as puncturing.