Computer science

Network packet

Wireless

Latency (audio)

Computer network

Telecommunications

Proceedings of the IEEE

Most of the recent advances in the design of high-speed wireless systems are based on information-theoretic principles that demonstrate how to efficiently transmit long data packets. However, the upcoming wireless systems, notably the fifth-generation (5G) system, will need to support novel traffic types that use short packets. For example, short packets represent the most common form of traffic generated by sensors and other devices involved in machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. Furthermore, there are emerging applications in which small packets are expected to carry critical information that should be received with low latency and ultrahigh reliability. Current wireless systems are not designed to support short-packet transmissions. For example, the design of current systems relies on the assumption that the metadata (control information) is of negligible size compared to the actual information payload. Hence, transmitting metadata using heuristic methods does not affect the overall system performance...

Toward Massive, Ultrareliable, and Low-Latency Wireless Communication With Short Packets