Introduction to ultra reliable and low latency communications (URLLC)

Max amount of FITech students: 1 000

Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) is a new service class introduced in 5G wireless system for latency sensitive applications like factory automation, autonomous driving, and remote surgery. The ability to deliver URLLC services wirelessly opens the door to a vast set of applications, which were so far constrained to wired connectivity. For example, self driving cars will be able to communicate reliably with road side infrastructures to receive mission-critical control information, and manufacturing can be made much more agile and flexible.

This course will provide an introduction to URLLC. In particular, we will look at typical URLLC use cases and applications, study the main challenges in enabling in such high reliability and low latency in an wireless environment, and explore different novel enablers and solutions that can overcome such challenges. The course is targeted towards the general audience with a basic background in wireless communications, and does not require advanced background knowledge.

Course content:

• URLLC and its use cases
• uncertainty sources in wireless communications
• system design enhancements for URLLC
• URLLC solutions enabled by diversity and coordination
• URLLC solutions enabled by multi-antenna technologies
• basic reliability and latency analysis framework
• URLLC towards 6G

After completing the course, the student is able to:

1. Understand the difference between ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) and conventional communications
2. Understand the impediments and the enablers for achieving high reliability and low latency
3. Apply different tools to analyse reliability and latency
4. Understand the expected evolution of URLLC towards 6G

Completion methods:

Lectures and exercises (total 16 hours), reading assignments, quizzes and a final project. All course material will be made available online.

You can get a digital badge after completing this course.