5G/6G Academy

5G/6G Academy

Telecom certifications · since 2009

SSB Beam Planner

Plan a 5G NR SSB burst set. Pick a frequency range and SSB subcarrier spacing and the tool derives the burst-set case (A–E), Lmax candidate count, and the exact OFDM-symbol positions inside the 5 ms half-frame per 3GPP TS 38.213 §4.1.

FR1 uses 15/30 kHz. FR2 uses 120/240 kHz.

Case
C
L_max
8
SSB SCS
30 kHz
Default periodicity
20 ms
Case C · 30 kHz · FR1 3–6 GHz · L_max = 8. Burst set is confined to the first 5 ms half-frame; the gNB repeats it every 20 ms by default.

5 ms half-frame timeline (140 OFDM symbols at SSB SCS)

slot 0slot 1slot 2slot 3slot 4slot 5slot 6slot 7slot 8slot 9#0#1#2#3#4#5#6#705 msSSB

Each coloured block is a 4-symbol SSB candidate. Hover to highlight its row in the table below.

Candidate SSB start positions (8 beams)

Beam #First symbol (l)SlotSymbol in slot
#0202
#1808
#21612
#32218
#43022
#53628
#64432
#75038

About SSB burst sets

A 5G NR Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) is 4 OFDM symbols wide (PSS, PBCH, SSS, PBCH) and occupies 240 subcarriers. The gNB transmits up to Lmax of these in a single burst set, each beamformed in a different direction. The UE performs beam-sweep reception during initial access and picks the strongest SSB index. TS 38.213 §4.1 defines five cases (A–E) for how those candidate SSBs are placed in the 5 ms half-frame.

Case A (15 kHz) and Case C (30 kHz) use the symbol set {2, 8} + 14n. Case B (30 kHz, multiplexed with LTE) uses {4, 8, 16, 20} + 28n. Case D (120 kHz) and Case E (240 kHz) are FR2-only and carry up to 64 candidate SSB indices for the much tighter pencil beams needed at mmWave.

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