IEEE Access special section editorial: Physical and medium access control layer advances in 5G wireless networks

It is an exciting time in telecom research, as connectivity becomes the key ingredient of new vertical markets, such as automotive, smart city, smart grid, and healthcare. Fifth Generation (5G) network infrastructure and technologies have to respond to requirements of these verticals as well as mobile broadband services. 5G networks will be challenged by connectivity “everywhere,” “all the time” with traffic from “Internet of Things” (IoT). Data rate, latency, and mobility demands are extremely variable and communication mechanisms bring new challenges for network design. 5G networks are not merely considered as an evolution of existing 4G networks, but emphasis on a variety of emerging communication paradigms such as Machine-Type Communication (MTC) and IoT, has changed the design philosophy of future tactile communication. 5G network design will be service driven with billions of new devices generating heterogeneous traffic. The rate and QoS requirements are going to be much stringent and heterogeneous as compared to 4G networks.