How 5G technology works

5G is one of the most discussed technologies in this decade, what is 5G, and how does 5G technology work?

5G is the fifth generation telecommunication and wireless network standard which will be capable of handling greater data rates and network efficiency. 5G networks will offer scalable and adaptable services, it promises a smarter, faster, and more efficient network. On 3rd April 2019, the first 5G service introduced in the US by Verizon. Since then many countries started their 5G deployments.

Before we discuss more about 5G, let’s take a look at the technological evolution in the past few decades. GSM and CDMA networks has been implemented in the late twentieth century. The advancement has been continued through 3G, 4G, and LTE advanced networks. The system improved with new techniques to achieve a higher data rate, more user handling, improve latency, and overall network efficiency.

Where are we today?

: Image Source: statista.com

Now we are at transition phase from LTE advanced to 5G. As of January 2022, LTE has presence in 240 countries with around 790 network operators and is expected to be increased coming years.

The 5G Vision: Being Smart

Research shows massive growth in traffic volume for the past five years. This trend will continue approximately 18 to 25 times higher rate by year 2025. There will be 75.44 billion wirelessly connected devices by 2025 (according to research by Statista). Current 5G networks is capable of handling 10 times more simultaneous connections than the earlier 4G/LTE version. 5G offers an ultra-high-definition multimedia experience and remote access to many real-time services.

Earlier deployment of 5G used sub-6GHz spectrum for communication. Once 5G networks utilize the millimeter wave spectrum, speed and latency will improve further as high frequency spectrum has the higher bandwidth.

Performance Targets for 5G – What we can expect?

5G networks have been designed for a smart world such as smart cities, smart healthcare, transportation, and the most important idea of IoT. To handle higher network demands, the network must be smart, efficient, and cost-effective. It should support mobility, better coverage, power efficiency, reliability, and most importantly security.

Internet of things

iot

IoT is one of the hot technology topics recently. Internet of things is an idea of connecting billions of smart devices to the internet in an organized, efficient, and secured way. Many organizations have already completed a market analysis and evaluated system requirements. It will revolutionize industrial area, manufacturing, healthcare system, and supply chain management and it will reflect changes in daily life.

5G Technologies – How does it work?

5G technology achieves its expected high efficiency using advanced modulation techniques and network terminologies like:

1. Carrier Aggregation

Carrier aggregation is a technique used in LTE advanced to improve system efficiency. In carrier aggregation, two or more carrier signals are aggregated to support wider bandwidth which allows even up to 100 MHz.

CA uses three techniques for aggregation: intra-band contiguous: two carriers are transmitted at neighboring channels (as in the figure).

Intra-band noncontiguous: two carriers are transmitted with channel spacing.

Inter-band: In this technique, different LTE bands are used for transmission simultaneously.

2. Millimeter Waves

Millimeter waves are one of the efficient solutions to solve data rate. It has higher bandwidth to simultaneously transmit and receive data from base station and UE (handset). Future 5G deployments will make use of 5G-NR spectrum capable of gigabit/second data transfer.

Adaptive Bandwidth

5G technology allows handsets to automatically switch to faster internet only when it is necessary and keeps lower data activities while not using any applications. This method preserves battery life significantly.

For example: checking email does not require higher bandwidth.

3. Small Cell Concept

To increase network efficiency, the cell is subdivided into micro and Pico cells. Spectrum reusability allows for adding more users in a small geographical area and handling networks more efficiently.

Conventionally, mobile network used a one base station to cover large geographical area (2 – 10 KM circle) using low frequency spectrum. Since 5G uses higher spectrum, the waves will get distorted while travelling longer distance. Typical cell concept is 5G will cover very small area compared to third and fourth generation of networks.

What are Small Cells in 5G Technology

4.MIMO Concept

MIMO is a transmission technology with the usage of multiple antennas for transmission and reception. Simultaneous data transfer is possible using this technology thus offering an efficient data rate. The more the number of antennas, the more transmission and reception can be done.

5. Wi-Fi offloading

Wi-fi offloading is one of the main features of future networks. It allows the user to connect using a wi-fi network and the cellular network can be allocated to other users. It would be suitable for some places where cellular network quality is poor and users still have the option to connect to the network without cellular reception.

6. Device-to-device communication

D2D communication is a technique where a network authorizes two adjacent devices to communicate with each other directly. The network will have control over the devices and allows an operator to determine the traffic routing between direct and network paths. During the absents of the network, one device can connect to another device.

7. Cloud – Radio Network Access

C-RAN is a network technology used for effective communication with centralized information processing carried out remotely within the cloud system. The signal will be processed at a remote location and the base stations will be connected with the most efficient fiber-optic connections. It gives a lot of advantages in system implementation, and maintenance and is highly efficient.

Find about How does Cloud Radio Access Network Works

Conclusion

As an improved version of LTE – 4G technology, 5G technology enable us to connect everything with greater speed, low latency and higher security. At the end of 2022, global subscribers of 5G expected to be around 580 million, which is a small percentage of world population. It requires an upgrade of base station capabilities, licenses, spectrum distribution, cooperation between network operators, and device upgrading.

More reading: Five network terminologies to make 5G possible

Read What are applications of 5G Technology

Comments

Joyson says
June 20, 2016 at 4:55 am
Very useful thread of information.
Shahid S says
July 28, 2016 at 2:39 am
Interesting…
Rajiv says
August 1, 2016 at 10:53 am
Thanks Shahid!
Bogdan says
October 25, 2016 at 12:06 pm
“GSM and CDMA network has been implemented in the late nineteenth century” xDD
- Rajiv says
  October 25, 2016 at 1:01 pm
  Thanks Bogdan, it was twentieth century. GSM came into existence in 1991 in Finland, i think few years later CDMA
Terah says
November 3, 2016 at 12:47 pm
“GSM and CDMA network has been implemented in the late nineteenth century” xDD
“Yes, GSM came into existence in 1991 in Finland, i think few years later CDMA”
1801-1900 is the 19th century
1901-2000 is the 20th century
- Rajiv says
  November 3, 2016 at 1:11 pm
  Thanks Terah. You are right. Thanks for highlighting, corrected.
Qualcomm Staff says
March 8, 2017 at 3:57 am
Good work on the summary.
- Rajiv says
  March 8, 2017 at 1:26 pm
  Thanks for the comment!
Biswajit Paul says
June 16, 2018 at 8:46 pm
Very very good article
Ashwani Kumar says
July 8, 2019 at 7:03 am
LTE is OFDMA as a 4G same as 5G. but all these three orthogonal angle is between 90 degree you can send/receive video, audio and data simultaneously.even you can dedicate these to camera,mic,and wifi for data

How 5G technology works