Bandwidth Parts (BWP) — dynamic bandwidth adaptation

What Is a Bandwidth Part?

A Bandwidth Part is a contiguous subset of the total carrier bandwidth that a UE is configured to use at any given moment. The network can configure up to four BWPs per UE on each carrier for downlink and uplink independently, but only one BWP can be active at a time in each direction. This mechanism decouples the carrier bandwidth from the UE's instantaneous operating bandwidth. A UE that only needs to send a small status report can operate on a narrow BWP, while a UE streaming high-definition video can activate a wide BWP spanning most of the carrier.