Performance Impact of Co-Existing Indoor Private 5G NR Networks for Industrial Use

With the adoption of industrial 5G Non-Public Network (NPN), comes a need for high density deployment. Limited spectrum, necessitates channel reuse and legislation is currently being established to accommodate. This paper investigates the impact of inter-network co-channel interference on commercial indoor 5G Stand-Alone (SA) networks and relates it to Norwegian 3.5 GHz legislation. Three scenarios are considered: direct line-of-sight, neighboring 5G spaces with interior walls, and neighboring 5G buildings with multiple interior and exterior walls. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including downlink and uplink throughput, latency, and packet loss, are evaluated under passive interference and active interference with background user equipment (UE) traffic conditions. The study finds that direct line-of-sight interference significantly disrupts throughput, particularly in the uplink direction, while separating networks by walls or buildings helps negate interference to varying degrees. Latency is also affected by direct line-of-sight interference but recovers more gracefully as separation between networks increases. No increased packet losses were observed, indicating high reliability for 5G in challenging scenarios. The results show that Norway’s model, which ensures easy adoption, flexible deployment, and good distance separation to prevent co-channel interference, is a suitable template for future EU standardization on 5G NPN.