5G NR DL and UL Physical channels:
Below definition of DL Physical channels and UL Physical channels with comparison between 4G and 5G.
-DL Physical channels
5G downlink physical channel corresponds to a set of resource elements carrying information originating from higher layers.
Downlink Physical channels in 5G:
-Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH): that carries DCI for downlink control information (DCI)
-Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH): that carries the user data and System information for user
-Physical broadcast channel (PBCH) which carries the necessary system information to enable a UE to access the 5G network.
Comparison between DL Channels in 4G and 5G
| PDSCH (5G) | PDSCH (LTE) | PDCCH (5G) | PDCCH (LTE) | |
| Purpose | Transmit DL Data | Transmit DL Data | L1/L2 Control
channel |
L1/L2 Control
channel |
| Waveform | OFDM | OFDM | OFDM | OFDM |
| Bandwidth | Numerology
dependent |
1.4/3/5/10/15/20
MHz |
Localized in
BWP |
Spread out in  the entire bandwidth |
| Reference signals | Only UE specific signals (DMRS) | Cell specific or UE specific (Rel. 10) | UE specific (DMRS) | Cell specific (CRS) |
| Modulation | Up to 256QAM | Up to 256 QAM | QPSK | QPSK |
| Coding scheme | LDPC | Turbo | Polar | TBCC |
5G Uplink Physical channels
An uplink physical channel corresponds to a set of resource elements carrying information originating from higher layers.
Uplink Physical channels are:
-Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH): Used for uplink control information, which includes: HARQ feedback acknowledgments, scheduling request, and downlink channel-state information for link adaptation.
-Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH): Used for uplink data transmission (by a UE).
-Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH): Used by a UE to request connection setup referred to as random access.
Comparison between UL Channels in 4G and 5G:
| PUSCH (5G) | PUSCH ( LTE) | PUCCH (5G) | PUCCH (LTE) | |
| Purpose | Transmit UL Data | Transmit UL Data | L1/L2 Control information | L1/L2 Control information |
| Waveform | OFDM or
SC-FDMA |
SC-FDMA | Filtered OFDM or
SC-FDMA |
SC-FDMA |
| Bandwidth | Depend on numerology | 1.4/3/5/10/15/20 | Many flexible formats in time/freq. | 1 RB in freq.
14 symbols time |
| Modulation | Up to 256 QAM | Up to 256 QAM | QPSK | QPSK |
| Coding scheme | LDPC | Turbo | RM/Polar | RM/TBCC |
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