Abstract: The fourth generation (4G) wireless communication systems have been deployed or are soon to be deployed in many countries. However, with an explosion of wireless mobile devices and services, there are still some challenges that cannot be accommodated even by the 4G, such as the spectrum crisis and inter-cell interference. Telecom operators have turned to commit themselves to share available resources, including hardware and software resources. Therefore, with the mutual infrastructure, the ‘integration’ should be highlighted, especially in the fifth generation (5G) wireless systems that are expected to be deployed beyond 2020. The authors in the article proposed a potential cellular architecture, and discussed the inter-operator radio interface based synchronization (RIBS) for the 5G wireless communication systems. A scheme of inter-operator RIBS and typical scenarios, along with the analysis of the corresponding interference were given. Analysis of the shared parameters, signaling coordination of inter-operator RIBS and listening reference signal (RS) design for RIBS were also carried out.

Key words: radio interface based synchronization, inter-operator, fifth generation wireless systems, interference, listening reference signal