Waveform design for 5G and beyond

5G is envisioned to improve major key performance indicators (KPIs), such as peak data rate, spectral efficiency, power consumption, complexity, connection density, latency, and mobility. This chapter aims to provide a complete picture of the ongoing 5G waveform discussions and overviews the major candidates. It provides a brief description of the waveform and reveals the 5G use cases and waveform design requirements. The chapter presents the main features of cyclic prefix-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) that is deployed in 4G LTE systems. CP-OFDM is the baseline of the 5G waveform discussions since the performance of a new waveform is usually compared with it. The chapter examines the essential characteristics of the major waveform candidates along with the related advantages and disadvantages. It summarizes and compares the key features of different waveforms.