  Ultra-reliable, low latency communications (URLLC) are currently attracting
significant attention due to the emergence of mission-critical applications and
device-centric communication. URLLC will entail a fundamental paradigm shift
from throughput-oriented system design towards holistic designs for guaranteed
and reliable end-to-end latency. A deep understanding of the delay performance
of wireless networks is essential for efficient URLLC systems. In this paper,
we investigate the network layer performance of multiple-input, single-output
(MISO) systems under statistical delay constraints. We provide closed-form
expressions for MISO diversity-oriented service process and derive
probabilistic delay bounds using tools from stochastic network calculus. In
particular, we analyze transmit beamforming with perfect and imperfect channel
knowledge and compare it with orthogonal space-time codes and antenna
selection. The effect of transmit power, number of antennas, and finite
blocklength channel coding on the delay distribution is also investigated. Our
higher layer performance results reveal key insights of MISO channels and
provide useful guidelines for the design of ultra-reliable communication
systems that can guarantee the stringent URLLC latency requirements.
