Enhancing 5G Performance: Reducing Service Time and Research Directions for 6G Standards

TL;DR

This paper explores methods to reduce packet service time in 5G networks by combining network coding and HARQ optimization, providing insights for future 6G standard improvements.

Contribution

It introduces a network coding approach that increases packets in flight within HARQ limits and evaluates its impact on service time and throughput.

Findings

Network coding reduces service time by up to 7% in low SNR regimes.

Increasing packets in flight improves latency reduction across SNR levels.

Recommendations for expanding HARQ processes in 6G standards are suggested.

Abstract

This paper presents several methods for minimizing packet service time in networks using 5G and beyond. We propose leveraging network coding alongside Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) to reduce service time as well as optimizing Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) selection based on the service time. Our network coding approach includes a method to increase the number of packets in flight, adhering to the current standard of the 16 HARQ process limit, demonstrating that these strategies can enhance throughput and reduce latency. Experimental results show that network coding reduces service times by up to 7% in low SNR regimes, with greater reduction across all SNR as the number of packets in flight increases, suggesting that future 6G standards should consider increasing the number of HARQ processes for better performance.