As the number of wirelessly connected devices increases in tens of billions, mobile and wireless traffic is increasing explosively. The mobile communication is on the way to the fifth generation (5G) in order to meet such requirements.

Three ministries of China, including Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), jointly established IMT-2020 (5G) promotion association in February 2013. National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), National Science and Technology Major Project, and 863 Project of the MOST have launched lot of 5G projects, and the universities, research institutes, and enterprises in China have carried out studies actively to support and promote 5G research.

To achieve anticipated goals for 5G, new concepts and technologies need to be widely investigated. Massive and 3-dimensional MIMO, millimeter wave (mmWave), and ultradensification are seen as the “big three” promising technologies for 5G wireless networks. It is also essential to consider advance coding and modulation techniques for 5G, such as nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique. Device-to-device (D2D) communication will enable new peer-to-peer and location-based applications and services, promoting its candidacy for 5G wireless communication system, and so on.

This special issue brings together academic and industrial researchers to identify and discuss technical challenges and recent advances related to enabling technologies for 5G mobile communications.

Researchers are cordially invited to contribute high quality, original research articles or review articles that will stimulate the continuing efforts to understand the key technologies for 5G systems.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Massive MIMO
• 3D MIMO
• Millimeter-wave communication
• Ultradense deployments
• Advance coding and modulation
• Device-to-device communication
• Full-duplex
• Advanced channel models for 5G characterization
• Cognitive radio networks
• Software defined network
• Heterogeneous networking for the internet of things (IoT)
• Social networks
• Other related to the special issue topic