Latency and BER Analysis of 5G NR Using MATLAB

Abstract

This study investigates the fundamental trade-off between latency and reliability in 5G New Radio (NR) systems by analyzing the impact of subcarrier spacing (SCS) on end-to-end latency and Bit Error Rate (BER). While 5G NR’s flexible numerology enables adaptation to diverse service requirements such as ultra-low latency for URLLC or high reliability for eMBB the optimal configuration remains application-dependent. Using MATLAB R2023b and the 5G Toolbox, we simulate the 5G NR physical layer under realistic 3GPP channel models (UMa/UMi), evaluating latency as a function of OFDM symbol and slot duration, and BER performance of QPSK over an AWGN channel across sub-6 GHz (3.5 GHz) and mmWave (28 GHz) bands. Key results show that increasing SCS from 15 kHz to 120 kHz reduces latency from ~2.0 ms to ~1.0 ms making it suitable for URLLC but slightly degrades BER in low-SNR regimes due to reduced symbol duration and increased noise sensitivity. Conversely, lower SCS improves BER at the cost of higher latency. This work provides a clear, simulation-backed trade-off analysis to guide system design for latency-sensitive or reliability-critical 5G applications.