Ultra-low latency supported by the fifth generation (5G) give impetus to the prosperity of many wireless network applications, such as autonomous driving, robotics, telepresence, virtual reality and so on. Ultra-low latency is not achieved in a moment, but requires long-term evolution of network structure and key enabling communication technologies. In this paper, we provide an evolutionary overview of low latency in mobile communication systems, including two different evolutionary perspectives: 1) network architecture; 2) physical layer air interface technologies. We firstly describe in detail the evolution of communication network architecture from the second generation (2G) to 5G, highlighting the key points reducing latency. Moreover, we review the evolution of key enabling technologies in the physical layer from 2G to 5G, which is also aimed at reducing latency. We also discussed the challenges and future research directions for low latency in network architecture and physical layer.
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