Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of queuing management in the Radio Link Control (RLC) buffer of the Next-Generation Node B (gNB) under fluctuating channel conditions. In the first part of the study, we determine the correlation between the queuing management at the RLC buffer and the application-layer Quality of Experience (QoE) at the mobile user. We further investigate the effects of active queue management (AQM) strategies within the RLC on video streaming flows transported over QUIC. Since QUIC is the prevailing protocol for HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) in low-latency live (LLL) streaming mode, we consider multiple QUIC implementations and Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) schemes. Our analysis demonstrates that AQM strategies within the RLC layer substantially influence the QoE, with distinct impacts observed across different QUIC implementations and ABR schemes. These findings highlight network operators' need to implement advanced, intelligent solutions in the 5G core, extending beyond conventional RLC-layer metrics. © 2025 IEEE.