Polar code appropriateness for ultra-reliable and low-latency use cases of 5G systems

Abstract

Polar code is considered as a major breakthrough of past decade in channel coding area. The unprecedented performance of polar codes compelled third generation partnership project (3GPP) to adopt the polar codes for control channels functions in one of the fifth generation (5G) scenario enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB). No decision has been made yet on channel coding for remaining 5G scenarios namely, Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) and Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC). This paper focuses on channel coding schemes particularly for URLLC use case of 5G New Radio (5G-NR) and evaluating the performance of polar codes for the same. Polar codes are investigated on the basis of various performance parameters for short block lengths and low code rates as desired for URLLC scenario. The excellent error correcting performance of highly reliable polar code with low computational complexity and low decoding latency makes it a strong contender in URLLC channel coding race.