Development of 5G NR RedCap devices

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the RedCap technology. RedCap devices (known as Reduced Capability devices) are a new technology that is being studied by 3GPP in the R17 phase of 5G. RedCap can be defined as a lightweight version of 5G technology. The IoT application scenarios are extremely complex and diverse, and different scenarios have different requirements for network metrics. RedCap devices have emerged to fill the gap left by the withdrawal of 4G, i.e., to cover the needs of medium and high speeds. Specifically, it was designed to cover the needs of LTE Cat.1 and LTE Cat.4. Therefore, this article will introduce the reader to Release 17 RedCap devices by describing them from multiple perspectives, i.e. the history of RedCap devices, application scenarios, requirements, and their technical features. RedCap devices are well-balanced in their capabilities, using simpler demodulation (meaning significantly lower RF and baseband requirements), targeting bands with smaller spectrum bandwidths, and reducing the number of transceiver antennas and the number of MIMO layers. These changes have resulted in a reduction in the rate of RedCap devices, a reduction in coverage capability, and an increase in latency. Based on these changes, RedCap devices are expected to be 2-5 times less expensive than 5G. The main applications for RedCap are wearable devices (e.g. smart watches), industrial sensors and video surveillance devices.