The goals for 5G are aggressive. It promises to deliver enhanced end-user experience
by offering new applications and services through gigabit speeds, and significantly
improved performance and reliability. The enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) 5G use
case, for instance, targets peak data rates as high as 20 Gbps in the downlink (DL) and
10 Gbps in the uplink (UL).
While there are different ways to improve data rates, spectrum is at the core of enabling
higher mobile broadband data rates. 5G New Radio (NR) specifies new frequency
bands below 6 GHz and also extends into mmWave frequencies where more
contiguous bandwidth is available for sending lots of data. However, at mmWave
frequencies, signals are more susceptible to impairments. Hence, extra consideration is
needed to determine test approaches that provide the precision required to accurately
evaluate 5G components and devices.
Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to provide a deep dive into 5G technology, explore its
testing and validation, and thereafter present the OTE (Hellenic Telecommunications
Organisation) 5G testbed, including measurement results obtained and its characterisation based on key performance indicators (KPIs)