The METIS 5G System Concept

In the METIS 5G multinational research project, led by Ericsson, we have been working with the requirements and concepts for the 5G systems, that will extend today’s wireless communication systems to support new usage scenarios with tougher requirements.

The METIS 5G system concept assumes support of three generic 5G services – Extreme Mobile BroadBand (xMBB), Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), and Ultra-reliable MTC (uMTC). In order to handle these services we have identified four main enablers – a Lean System Control Plane, a Dynamic RAN, support for Localized Contents and Traffic Flows and finally a Spectrum Toolbox (we explain these in a bit more detail further down).

We have conducted research and development of approximately 140 different technology components related to 5G in the METIS project. The final concept was developed using the technology components and the research results, thereby meeting the 5G challenges identified in the scenarios work we did in the beginning of the project.

Hugo Tullberg presented the METIS System Concept at the NGMN Industry Conference and Exhibition that was held in Frankfurt, Germany, end of March. The presentation was well received and led to very interesting discussions during the Q&A session and also after the presentation.

We also had a METIS booth at the NGMN event where we showed the BMW video illustrating nomadic nodes as part of the future communication solutions. We got ample opportunities to discuss the METIS project and System Concept with the visitors, both in detail and its impact in general. With the set of 5G scenarios and concrete test cases that we have developed, we have clearly made a large impact and we notice how our work has been used as a blueprint for developing 5G requirements globally.

About Metis

METIS is an EU FP7 project, and the project consortium consists of 25 partners representing vendors, operators, academic institutions, and the automotive industry. Ericsson is leading the EU project METIS and METIS-II, and is committed in many more EU research projects. Ericsson has been a driving force of 5G PPP, in which vendors, operators and players from industries such as the automotive, utilities and automation sectors are working closely together.

Further reading

The METIS 5G system concept is developed to meets the requirements of the beyond-2020 connected information society and extends today’s wireless communication systems to support new usage scenarios.

The METIS 5G system concept consists of three generic 5G services and four main enablers. The generic 5G services are:

• Extreme Mobile BroadBand (xMBB) provides both extreme high data rates and low-latency communications, and extreme coverage improving the Quality of Experience by providing reliable moderate rates over the coverage area.
• Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC) provides wireless connectivity for tens of billions of network-enabled devices. Scalable connectivity for an increasing number of devices, wide area coverage and deep indoor penetration are prioritized over peak rates as compared to xMBB.
• Ultra-reliable MTC (uMTC) provides ultra-reliable low-latency communication links for network services with extreme requirements on availability, latency and reliability, e.g. V2X communication and industrial control applications.

The main enablers are:

• Lean System Control Plane providing new lean signalling/control information is necessary to guarantee latency and reliability, support spectrum flexibility, allow separation of data and control information, support large variety of devices with very different capabilities and ensure energy efficiency.
• Dynamic RAN providing a new generation of dynamic Radio Access Networks (RANs). In the Dynamic RAN the wireless device exhibits a duality, being able to act both as a terminal and as an infrastructure node. Dynamic RAN incorporates ultra-dense networks and nomadic nodes, and supports direct device-to-device communication both for local traffic (off-loading) and backhaul.
• Localized Contents and Traffic Flows allow offloading, aggregation and distribution of real-time and cached content. Localization reduces the load on the backhaul and provides aggregation of e.g. sensor information.
• Spectrum Toolbox contains a set of enablers (tools) to allow 5G systems to operate under different regulatory frameworks and spectrum sharing scenarios. These Spectrum sharing enablers are fundamental to design a flexible radio interface that is frequency agile, coexistence/sharing capable, and applicable to the developments in spectrum regulation.

The METIS 5G architecture has been developed to support the concept. The METIS 5G architecture provides a functional architecture, a logical orchestration and control architecture, and a deployment architecture.

The METIS 5G system concept has been evaluated at a detailed level with respect to each of the twelve METIS test cases. The overall goal assessment is based on the aggregation of these results and we conclude that the METIS technical objectives are met.

The 5G System Concept developed by the METIS project was presented at the NGMN Industry Conference & Exhibition in Frankfurt, March 24th – 25th, 2015. METIS was represented by Hugo Tullberg and Mikael Fallgren, both from Ericsson, and Ren Zhe from BMW.

For further information and details see:

METIS Website 
METIS Deliverables
CORDIS: Switching Europe onto the next mobile generation

Hugo Tullberg and Mikael Fallgren, Ericsson Research