NR-U and Wi-Fi Coexistence Enhancement Exploiting Multiple Bandwidth Parts Assignment

As the unlicensed band is a shared spectrum, Listen Before Talk (LBT) mechanism was introduced in Long Term Evolution (LTE) - Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) to achieve a harmonious coexistence with other incumbent operators such as Wi-Fi. Similarly, fifth generation (5G) cellular systems support operation in unlicensed band adhering to LBT as a channel access mechanism. Additionally, standalone operation of 5G in the unlicensed band has been identified as a possible deployment scenario by 3GPP. In this paper, we initially demonstrate the coexistence performance between 5G and Wi-Fi operators following the conventional LBT algorithm suggested by 3GPP. Then, we present the bandwidth part (BWP), which is the new feature introduced in New Radio (NR), and propose a new algorithm that exploits it to provide more opportunities for 5G operators to transmit in the unlicensed band. Finally, we present the coexistence performance generated by a system level simulation in terms of latency and throughput. Our numerical results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm provides a better performance in comparison with the conventional LBT.