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Analysis of institutional authors

Carlos Barjau EstevanAuthorGomez-Barquero, DAuthor

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5G Radio Access Network Architecture for Terrestrial Broadcast Services

Publicated to:Ieee Transactions On Broadcasting. 66 (2): 404-415 - 2020-06-01 66(2), DOI: 10.1109/TBC.2020.2985906

Authors: Saily, Mikko; Estevan, Carlos Barjau; Gimenez, Jordi Joan; Tesema, Fasil; Guo, Wei; Gomez-Barquero, David; Mi, De

Affiliations

Inst Rundfunktech GmbH, Future Networks Dept - Author
Network & Architecture Grp, Standardizat & Res Lab, Nokia Bell Labs - Author
Nomor Res GmbH - Author
Samsung R&D Inst UK - Author
Univ Politecn Valencia, Inst Telecommun & Multimedia Applicat - Author
Univ Surrey, Inst Commun Syst, 5G Innovat Ctr, Guildford GU2 7XH - Author
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Abstract

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has defined based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) enhanced Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service (eMBMS) a set of new features to support the distribution of Terrestrial Broadcast services in Release 14. On the other hand, a new 5th Generation (5G) system architecture and radio access technology, 5G New Radio (NR), are being standardized from Release 15 onwards, which so far have only focused on unicast connectivity. This may change in Release 17 given a new Work Item set to specify basic Radio Access Network (RAN) functionalities for the provision of multicast/broadcast communications for NR. This work initially excludes some of the functionalities originally supported for Terrestrial Broadcast services under LTE, e.g., free to air, receive-only mode, large-area single frequency networks, etc. This paper proposes an enhanced Next Generation RAN architecture based on 3GPP Release 15 with a series of architectural and functional enhancements, to support an efficient, flexible and dynamic selection between unicast and multicast/broadcast transmission modes and also the delivery of Terrestrial Broadcast services. The paper elaborates on the Cloud-RAN based architecture and proposes new concepts such as the RAN Broadcast/Multicast Areas that allows a more flexible deployment in comparison to eMBMS. High-level assessment methodologies including complexity analysis and inspection are used to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed architecture design and compare it with the 3GPP architectural requirements.

Keywords

5g5g mobile communication systemsArchitectureAssessment methodologiesBroadcastBroadcast servicesComplexity analysisComputer architectureFunctional enhancementsLong term evolution (lte)Mobile telecommunication systemsMulticastMulticastingMultimedia servicesNetwork architectureProposed architecturesRadioRadio access networkRadio access networksRadio access technologiesRadio broadcastingSignal synchronizationSignal synchronizationSingle frequency networkSingle frequency networksSystem architectures

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Ieee Transactions On Broadcasting due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Media Technology. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.74. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 2.33 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 15.15 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-15, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 32
  • Scopus: 49
  • OpenCitations: 39

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-15:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 43 (PlumX).

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Finland; Germany; United Kingdom.