Overview

Commercial 5G networks are being quickly rolled out worldwide. In theory, millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G can support network throughput of up to 20 Gbps, a 100x improvement compared to 4G LTE. 5G and beyond networks enable the development of new services that require ultra-high bandwidth and/or low latency. Examples include edge-assisted machine learning, networked virtual reality and augmented reality, collaborative and autonomous vehicles, low-latency Internet of Things (IoT) applications, and data-intensive sensing, to name a few. Despite the potential of 5G and beyond technologies, the validation of 5G performance in operational systems and a complete understanding of the impact of such technologies on various vertical use cases remain primarily open. The research community also faces several major challenges to conducting research on 5G and beyond networks and leveraging 5G's infrastructure to support the development and deployment of research prototypes.

The key issues include heterogeneity in both 5G and beyond technologies and service requirements, the inaccessibility and closedness of current commercial 5G networks, and a lack of software infrastructures such as tools and models that facilitate 5G and beyond enabled research, system prototyping, and experimentation.

1. 5G technologies and performance are heterogeneous.
   Unlike its 4G predecessors, 5G encompasses more diverse technologies such as mmWave high-band vs. mid-band vs. sub-6G low-band radio spectrum. This poses challenges in designing systems and services that can quickly adapt to changing 5G performance. The needs and requirements posed by various 5G and beyond use cases are also highly heterogeneous. This poses challenges for 5G deployments to meet and validate diverse service requirements end-to-end.
2. 5G's deployment takes time.
   Right now, mmWave 5G is only available in a few major cities. The supporting infrastructures such as 5G edge computing platforms have registered even less deployment. This hinders researchers, in particular those in less populated areas, from accessing 5G. Furthermore, the commercial 5G ecosystem is closed. This makes it difficult to access many types of information such as cellular control-plane messages, device radio energy consumption, and base station resource allocation status.
3. There is still a gap between high demand and current development for open programmable 5G and beyond software stacks to enable prototyping and experimentation.
   Considering the current experiences and expectations from various vertical domains, the software stacks that support building 5G research prototypes as well as traffic models and tools that capture the vertical performance are insufficient.

The 5G-MeMU workshop is motivated by the above key challenges of understanding and optimizing operational 5G and beyond systems and services and conducting 5G-related research. Its goal is to bring together researchers, cellular network operators, equipment vendors, mobile device manufacturers, vertical use case owners, and policymakers, from academia, industry, and government for discussions of the challenges of the 5G ecosystem, centered on practical experiences with 5G and beyond systems and services, and the state-of-the-art 5G and beyond research.