5G is one of the most discussed technologies in this decade, what is 5G and how 5G technology works?
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 efficient network. This new system expected to be launched in early 2020s.
Before we discuss more about 5G, let’s take a look at the technology evolution in past few decades. GSM and CDMA network 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 higher data rate, more user handling, improve latency and overall network efficiency.
Where are we today?
Now we are at fourth generation networks known as LTE advanced. LTE has been launched in more than 130 countries with around 400 network operators and expected to be increased in 2016 and coming years. It has estimated 437 million subscribers by 2015.
The 5G Vision: Being Smart
Researches shows that a massive growth in the traffic volume for the past five years. This trend will continue approximately 12 to 18 times higher rate by year 2020. There will be 50 billion wirelessly connected devices by 2020. The next generation networks will be capable of handling 10 times more simultaneous connections than current 4G version. It will offer ultra high definition multimedia experience and remote access to many real time services.
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 most important idea of IOT. In order 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 is one of the hot technology topics recently. Internet of things is an idea of connecting billions of smart devices to internet with an organized, efficient and secured way. Many organization have already completed market analysis and evaluated system requirements. It will revolutionize industrial area, manufacturing, healthcare system, supply chain management and it will reflect changes in daily life.
5G Technologies – How does it work?
5G technology will achieve its expected high efficiency using most modern modulation techniques and network terminologies like:
1. Carrier Aggregation
Carrier aggregation is a technique used in LTE advanced to improve the 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 non contiguous: two carriers are transmitted with channel spacing.Inter-band: In this technique different LTE bands are used for transmission simultaneously.
2. Small Cell Concept
In order to increase network efficiency, the cell is sub divided into micro and Pico cells. Spectrum reusability allows to adding more users in a small geographical area and handle network more efficiently.
3. 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 offer efficient data rate. The more the number of antennas, the more transmission and reception can be done.
4. Wi-Fi off loading
Wi-fi offloading is one the main feature of the future networks. It allows the user to connect using 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 user still have the option to connect to the network without cellular reception.
5. Device to device communication
D2D communication is technique where network authorize two adjacent devices communicate each other directly. Network will have the control over the devices and allows an operator to determine the traffic routing between direct and network path. During the absents of network, one devices can connect to another device.
6. Cloud – Radio Network Access
C-RAN is a network technology used for effective communication with a 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 most efficient fiber optic connections. It gives lot of advantages in system implementation, maintenance and highly efficient.
Conclusion
As an improved version of LTE – 4G technology, many tests and trials has to be conducted before implementing 5G. It requires upgrade of base station capabilities, licenses, spectrum distribution, co-operation between network operators and device upgrading. Recently Ericsson has tested 5G network speed and makes a record on data transmission which is few Giga bytes per second and it will improve in future networks.
More reading: Five network terminologies to make 5G possible
Joyson says
June 20, 2016 at 4:55 amVery useful thread of information.
Shahid S says
July 28, 2016 at 2:39 amInteresting…
Rajiv says
August 1, 2016 at 10:53 amThanks 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 pmThanks 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 pmThanks Terah. You are right. Thanks for highlighting, corrected.
Qualcomm Staff says
March 8, 2017 at 3:57 amGood work on the summary.
Rajiv says
March 8, 2017 at 1:26 pmThanks for the comment!
Biswajit Paul says
June 16, 2018 at 8:46 pmVery very good article