5G TERMS AND ACRONYMS

RRH (Remote Radio Head)

What is RRH? An RRH (Remote Radio Head) is a radio transceiver unit located at or near the antenna (typically on the tower top or

RRM – Radio resource management

What is RRM? RRM (Radio Resource Management) encompasses the algorithms and procedures used to manage radio resources in a mobile network — including transmit power

RU (Radio Unit)

What is RU? The RU (Radio Unit) is the component of a disaggregated 5G base station that handles the lower physical layer processing and RF

Rx – Receive

What is Rx? Rx (Receive) in wireless communications refers to the process of capturing incoming radio frequency signals and converting them into usable data. The

S-GW (Serving Gateway)

What is S-GW? The S-GW (Serving Gateway) is a user plane element in the 4G LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC) that routes and forwards user

SA (5G Standalone Architecture)

What is SA? 5G Standalone (SA) is the target, fully autonomous 5G architecture where the 5G NR radio (gNB) connects directly and exclusively to the

SBA – Service-based architecture

What is SBA? SBA is the foundational architectural paradigm of the 5G Core network. Instead of the point-to-point, fixed-interface model of 4G EPC, SBA defines

SC – Single carrier

What is SC? SC (Single Carrier) is a transmission technique that uses a single radio frequency carrier to transmit all data, as opposed to multicarrier

SDN – Software-defined networking

What is SDN? SDN decouples the network control plane (which decides how traffic should flow) from the data plane (which forwards packets according to those

SEM – Spectrum emissions mask

What is SEM? SEM (Spectrum Emission Mask) is a regulatory and standards-defined limit on the maximum permissible out-of-channel RF emissions from a transmitter, specified as

SFI – Slot form indicator

What is SFI? SFI (Slot Format Indicator) is a dynamic indication in 5G NR that tells the UE how each OFDM symbol within a given

SMF – Session management function

What is SMF? The SMF is the 5G Core control-plane function responsible for the complete lifecycle management of PDU (Protocol Data Unit) sessions. It establishes,

SNIR – Signal-to-noise and interference ratio

What is SNIR? SNIR (Signal-to-Noise and Interference Ratio), also written SINR, is the ratio of the desired signal power to the combined power of interference

SNR – Signal-to-noise ratio

What is SNR? SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) is the ratio of the desired signal power to the background noise power, typically expressed in decibels (dB). In

SR (Segment Routing)

What is SR? SR (Segment Routing) is an IP-based routing architecture that forwards packets along a path dynamically defined at the source node by inserting

SS-RSRP – Synchronization signal reference signal received power

What is SS-RSRP? SS-RSRP (SS Reference Signal Received Power) is the linear average power of the resource elements carrying the Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) within

SS-RSRQ – Synchronization signal reference signal received quality

What is SS-RSRQ? SS-RSRQ (SS Reference Signal Received Quality) is a measurement of the received quality of the NR synchronization signal, defined as the ratio