5G : Key technology differentiators

There's currently huge buzz around 5G, however we are still in the mass deployment stage of 4g telecom networks. It is therefore worthwhile to examine what are the potential value additions promised by 5G and when can operators possibly start 5G deployments. Also, we look at key technologies that are playing a part in making 5G evolution a reality. 

What is 5G:

5G refers to the forthcoming fifth generation of mobile network technology. Each of the generations have different standards, protocol stack & technology architecture, also with continuous improvement in radio modulation schemes, we are observing almost a 10x improvement in data speeds with every generation. 

1G technologies, evolved in 1980s, provided mobile voice services using analog technology. 2G , which became hugely popular, developed by GSMA, used digital voice technology and also provided limited slow speed data services upto few 100 kbps. 3G evolved as an extension to 2G to cater to the growing data needs, though they still use circuit switching technology for voice and packet switching technologies for data. With sophisticated multiplexing technologies and use of MIMO techniques in HSPA+, 3G networks today provide speeds upto 42 Mbps.

While 1G is totally obsolete, 2G still carries more than 50% voice traffic in many networks, though it is rapidly on decline. 3G & 4G networks continue to be deployed to support the increasing appetite for high speed data.

4G is designed to offer wireless broadband services with practical data speeds of 10s of Mbps. It's uses OFDMA, has a flat all IP architecture, true packet switched voice as VoIP (VoLTE). 4.5G term though not widely uses LTE - A offering few hundreds of Mbps speeds. 

While 4G has become synonymous with LTE, there's been no publicly agreed upon standard for 5G networks. However, a couple of likely technologies are emerging. It may be worthwhile to note the importance of uniform standards being adopted by the industry. 4G had 3 competing standards - WCDMA, WiMAX and LTE, LTE emerging as the clear winner with All the carriers adopting LTE. This helps achieve economies of scale bringing down the costs of network equipment and end user handsets. 

Standards of 5G are expected to be frozen by 2020, it will be an extension of 4G with even more higher data rates & much improved latency, resulting in better support for IoT. Data rates of “10 Gbps” are proposed. There's a 10x improvement e in these parameters. That's quite ambitious considering that 4g is current 10x higher in download speeds and improved latency vs 3G. 

The other main benefits of 5G will be low latency and high capacity. Low latency means that not only will download and upload speeds be fast, but the response times for starting those data transfers are very low. 4g networks have a typical radio latency of 15 ms (vs 3G latency of 100 ms), 5G promises to bring this to few ms.  This low latency is very desirable for Iot based sensors, where speedy response rather than higher speeds are typically required. 

What makes 5G WORK:

The major leap of evolution in 4G is the all IP evolved packet core simplifying the network architecture for all kinds of services - voice, video and data, resulting in improved user latency and use of even more efficient moderation schemes. 5G has taken this to the next level by using a combination of the following concepts:

The Hetnet concept: 5G will work seamlessly across diverse access network technologies - the HetNet (The Heterogeneous Network), a concept used in 5G to refer to network of networks spanning across different access technologies: From campus based wireless LAN, seamlessly witching to a wider cellular network. The HetNet is the game changer since it 

• allows unification of diverse varieties of cell sites - macro sites, small cells, LTE and Wi-Fi and newer formats all working together as one unified network, with the end user being completely unaware of the fact.
• Spectrum agnostic - 600MHz, 700MHz, 1.9GHz, 2.5GHz, 24GHz, 28GHz, 60GHz or another band which could be allocated to 5G, including the unlicensed spectrum running Wi-Fi or LTE-U. The end-user may notice the change in speed but not the format or spectrum change

Additional spectrum bands: For 5G radios, huge R&D is happening in spectrum bands above 24 GHz, also referred to as 'millimetre waves'. Presently, virtually no telecom network traffic happens in these bands because these waves tend to have shorter ranges and worked within shorter distances. However, Recent developments show that it's possible to use millimeter waves for long-distance transmissions. Currently the existing 2g, 3G & 4G technologies work in spectrum band ranging from 700 MHz to 2.5 GHz, with intense competition for lower bands (the sub GHz bands such as 700, 800 & 900 MHz) which are relatively more sought after because of their high propagation range resulting in fewer sites and superior indoor coverage compared to higher bands. Use of millimeter bands  will also allow higher spectrum allocation size (currently in chunks of 5, 10, and 20MHz), to multiple 100MHz of bandwidths can be allocated, with huge increase in speeds and capacity. 

Massive MIMO: MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) is term used to describe the use of multiple antennae ports to increase diversity and data speeds. These have been used in later generations of 3G & in 4G ( 4x4 MIMO). Use of millimeter waves allows even smaller antennae sizes and advancements in beam forming technology and hundreds of antennas even in the user end phones, allowing not only amazing speeds but also replacing wired cables such as HDMI etc to connect to other devices very short ranges.

New Core Architectures: Increased proliferation of SDN (Software Defined Networking), for a smarter & more efficient routing architecture, Cloud Computing – applications are brought closer to the user, lower latency and improved customer experience to eliminate congestion, Fog computing – this is taking the cloud as close to the end-user - This is where the IOT will be able to make smart decisions in very little time, low latency.

In conclusion, the future promises to be even more exciting & revolutionary impacting not only the telecom world but have a strong ripple effect in other related sectors as well, giving rise to even newer business models and making our lives even more productive.