Nokia · 10.2.1

Nokia proposes that CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM waveforms as defined in 5G NR are supported as the baseline communication waveforms for 6G downlink and uplink respectively, with enhancements studied only as additions rather than replacements. They present a technical case against Zak-OTFS using their own simulation results showing CP-OFDM outperforms Zak-OTFS by approximately 11 dB under realistic channel estimation and practical deployment parameters, and argue Zak-OTFS introduces unnecessary complexity through additional transforms, DD-domain buffering latency, and new receiver designs. For low PAPR uplink coverage extension, Nokia supports FDSS and FDSS-SE with transparent filtering and opposes Option 2 for subcarrier allocation where A would be defined as 2x3y5z subcarriers due to non-valid DFT size introduction. On multi-layer uplink, Nokia opposes extending DFT-s-OFDM beyond single-layer transmission for fully coherent and partially coherent UEs, citing system-level simulation results showing up to 16% cell average throughput loss when DFT-s-OFDM is used as the sole UL waveform with restricted codebook subsets, and argues the power gain from low PAPR cannot be exploited by non-power limited UEs (PH>0).

Nokia proposes CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM as defined in 5G NR as the supported baseline communication waveforms for 6G downlink and uplink respectively, with CP-OFDM for all layers and DFT-s-OFDM restricted to single-layer UL. They present a technical case against DL DFT-s-OFDM, arguing its PAPR advantage is neutralized by transparent PAPR reduction techniques already in deployed base stations, while introducing significant limitations including contiguous frequency allocation requirements, reduced SU/MU-MIMO precoding flexibility, and multi-RAT/MRSS incompatibility in FR1. They oppose studying Zak-OTFS, presenting simulation evidence that CP-OFDM outperforms it with realistic channel estimation and asserting its claimed benefits apply only to atypical propagation conditions. For UL coverage enhancement, they support FDSS and FDSS-SE with transparent filtering, propose PC2 high power class as baseline, and require DWS via DCI from the first 6G release.