What is NR?
New Radio (NR) is the 5G air interface standard defined by 3GPP from Release 15 onwards. It is the successor to LTE and is designed from the ground up to support all 5G use cases — eMBB, uRLLC, and mMTC — across a wide range of frequencies from below 1 GHz to above 52 GHz (FR1 and FR2).
How Does NR Work?
NR uses CP-OFDM for both downlink and uplink (with DFT-s-OFDM as an uplink option). It introduces flexible numerology with subcarrier spacings of 15, 30, 60, 120, and 240 kHz — allowing the same waveform to serve both wide-area coverage and mmWave hotspots. NR uses LDPC codes for data channels (replacing LTE’s Turbo codes) and Polar codes for control channels, improving coding efficiency. The lean carrier design reduces always-on reference signals, improving energy efficiency.
Use Cases
All 5G radio access deployments, both NSA (anchored to 4G EPC) and SA (connected to 5GC). First standardised in 3GPP Release 15 (December 2017 — non-standalone freeze; June 2018 — standalone freeze).
3GPP / Standards Reference
3GPP TS 38.300 (NR; Overall Description), Releases 15–18
Related Terms
gNB | FR1 | FR2 | CP-OFDM | NSA | SA | 5GC
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This glossary entry is part of the 5GWorldPro Complete 5G Glossary. To go deeper into 5G architecture and technology, explore our 5G Training courses.
