A comparative measurement study of cross-layer 5G performance under different mobility scenarios

Abstract

The 5G technology is expected to revolutionize various applications with stringent latency and throughput requirements, such as augmented reality and cloud gaming. Despite the rapid 5G deployment, it is still a puzzle whether current commercial 5G networks can meet the strict requirements and deliver the expected quality of experience (QoE) of these applications. Especially in mobile scenarios, as user mobility (e.g., walking and driving) plays a critical role in both network performance and application QoE, it becomes more challenging to provide high performance stably and continuously. To solve this puzzle, in this paper, we present a comprehensive cross-layer measurement study of current commercial 5G networks under five mobility scenarios typically seen in our daily lives. Specifically, under these mobility scenarios, we cover (1) the impact of physical layer metrics on network performance, (2) general network performance at the network layer, (3) comparison of four congestion control algorithms at the transport layer, and (4) application QoE at the application layer. Our measurement results show that the achievable network performance and application QoE under current commercial 5G networks falls behind expectations. We further reveal some insights that could be leveraged to improve the QoE of these applications under mobility scenarios.