# Application of Flexible Numerology to Blockage Mitigation in 5G-mmWave Networks

## TL;DR

This paper proposes using flexible numerology in 5G NR to adapt slot-time dynamically, mitigating mmWave signal blockages and significantly improving data rates in various blockage scenarios.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel application of flexible numerology in 5G NR for blockage mitigation, with analysis showing performance gains based on scenario-specific numerology choices.

## Key findings

- Different blockage scenarios require different numerologies for optimal performance.
- Proper numerology selection can improve data rates by hundreds of Mbps.
- Insights for designing blockage-aware scheduling mechanisms in 5G.

## Abstract

The 5G New Radio (NR) standard for wireless communications supports the millimetre-wave (mmWave) spectrum to yield unprecedented improvement of the access network capacity. However, intermittent blockages in the mmWave signal may degrade the system performance and lead to the under-utilisation of the allocated resources. To circumvent this problem, the transmission slot-time shall be adjusted according to the blockage condition, avoiding the resource under-utilisation. In this paper, we propose that the 5G NR flexible numerology should be applied to adapt the slot-time in order to mitigate the blockage effects. We validate this claim by analysing the expected data rate of a mmWave system, under a range of blockage scenarios. We show that different blockage scenarios may require different numerologies to produce best performance, and that the correct choice of numerology may improve this performance by as much as hundreds of Mbps. Our results carry insights important for the design of blockage-aware scheduling mechanisms for 5G.