What is 5G, and how might it change transport delivery?

When I started researching this article for UK5G, I found that some people claimed 5G will revolutionise how we do things but others were sceptical about how useful 5G really will be. I felt confused, and wanted to understand whether these views could be reconciled. To do that, I needed to get back to first principles, and then through this lens, take a look at the new 5G projects, and explore how we can best realise 5G's potential.

1. What is 5G?

Simply put, 5G is the Fifth Generation of a wireless telecommunications technology. It might sound like an incremental step on from 2G, 3G and 4G, but I discovered it is really a much bigger leap forward.

What makes 5G different to the previous Gs?

With each Generation of wireless connectivity we have sought to improve the capabilities of the technology.?

In the case of 5G, the design goals have been to:

• Increase capacity — overcoming 4G’s limit on the number of connected devices that each cell can support.
• Increase throughput — enabling much more data to be carried simultaneously.
• Reduce latency — increasing the speed at which data can be carried.
• Fundamentally change the IT used?— taking advantage of mainstream network communications software and kit to run the network and reducing the need for bespoke, expensive telecoms kit. 5G is the first Generation to use Internet Protocol-based networking on the operator’s side of the network in their network infrastructure.?

Previous Generations adapted the original 2G framework to achieve incremental improvement. In 5G’s case its design goals have required wholesale replacement to unlock a radically different set of capabilities.

It's not just about speed...

5G in the UK is getting closer to delivering the equivalent of a gigabit fibre connection but without the need to run a fibre optic cable to a device.??

The graphic below, from the Open Signal User Experience Report April 2021 indicates 5G download speeds in 2021 of up to 140 Mbps.

To get 5G up to the wireless equivalent of a 1 gigabit (1,000 Mbps) fibre connection will take a few more years, as mobile network operators will need to install significant additional infrastructure.

Something to bear in mind though, when we talk about network speed, is that what we usually mean is how much data you can get across a connection at once. We perceive this as speed because we measure it in bits per second. BUT, the real measure of network speed is more closely tied to latency. Latency, measured in milliseconds, determines how long it takes to send data across a connection and receive an acknowledgement.?The higher the latency, the longer the lag you'll experience.

We are constrained by the laws of physics

There is a bit of physics here that I needed to understand in order to get my head around why 5G is radically different to previous mobile technologies:

• For radio communication bands the lower the frequency, measured in Hertz, the greater the distance you can have between network infrastructure and remote devices. This means that we can beam wireless communications over long distances of between 10-20km with antennae to create a macro cell network. However, the lower the frequency, the lower the amount of data that can be carried by the network.
• The higher the frequency, the smaller the distance you can have between network infrastructure and remote devices. This means that we can only beam wireless communications over short distances to create a micro cell network with cell diameters of 100-200 metres. However, such a network can carry much higher volumes of data and the network infrastructure deployed can be smaller and draw less power.
• Also, the higher the frequency, the higher the level of interference to wireless signals by building materials and atmospheric conditions.

These limitations mean that if someone wants to provide wireless network coverage in a specific location, they have to consider trade-offs between:

• The amount of data that needs to be carried.
• The amount of physical infrastructure that they would need to install. The latter will depend on affordability and landowner permission, as well as available locations, power sources and network backbone connections.

2. Pioneers exploring the new 5G lands

The DCMS Testbeds and Trials programme has provided funding to support a wide array of consortia to explore Use Cases for harnessing 5G's new capabilities.

It helps me to think of these consortia as pioneers exploring these new 5G lands. Their 'expeditions' are the projects they have devised to test their hypotheses.

Over the past four years, different projects have set out with their backpacks, which included instructions for building small private 5G networks to test prototype implementations.

They are starting to return home now, to report back on what they have discovered. Their results will help the rest of us form a better picture of what this new 5G land is like, and whether we are content with a photo album of the expeditions, or become inspired to visit and find out more.

To date, explorations in transport and logistics have yielded the following:

1. Use Cases that exploit key aspects of 5G's potential:

• the transmission of HD video in real time so we can analyse images using artificial intelligence to identify transport patterns
• using remote sensors to improve asset maintenance, and better track the location and condition of freight
• Autonomous transport for improved efficiency and safety

2. The application of 5G networks in the WM5G Programme (see Table 1 below) to three key transport areas:

• Road asset infrastructure
• Rail asset infrastructure
• Traveller / Passenger experience

3. Ports and Manufacturing Use Cases, which are leading the way and moving from innovation to early adoption.

Summary of West Midlands 5G transport projects

Table 1 below summarises how each of the 13 Transport projects in the West Midlands 5G Programme are exploring the different capabilities of 5G for each of the three use cases. Further details on each project, including short video introductions are available on the WM5G website here.

3. Realising 5G's potential

Now we have a sense of the bigger picture, we can delve a little more into some of the specifics, start to imagine how we might benefit from 5G technology, and understand what else needs to be done to realise its potential:

• where Low Latency might be useful.
• how Multi-access Edge Computing reduces the quantity of data that needs to be transferred.
• why there needs to be a careful balance between network connectivity and smartness in vehicles to achieve the reliability that CAVs will need.

Where might low latency be useful to transport and logistics?

"In the Future when we get Lower latency standalone 5G it will be useful, and even essential, for autonomous systems, but for many of the Use Cases we are currently working on, the advances of 5G latency are not hugely useful, as lower latency is not a factor that impacts the services."

Rory Davies, Onwave

However, low latency is critical for the WM5G Use Cases on the Very Light Rail Autonomous system monitoring, and safety and security on trams and in stations (see Table 1 above). It is also essential for the future Use Case of Autonomous Convoys, as well as avoiding crashing a high-speed drone, as Rob Furlong of the KTN explains in this next short video clip.

What is Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) and why might it be helpful to transport and logistics?

The new 5G framework uses intelligent networking technology to take critical decisions in real time about where to process data. Transferring high volumes of data to cloud infrastructure for processing clogs up the network and adds delay. Any aspect of transport and logistics that needs a response in real time is better computed more rapidly in a local MEC network. Plus, edge computing can also contribute to improved battery life in sensors, helpful when you're deploying at scale over a transport network.

The benefits of MEC would apply particularly to safety- and mission-critical responses to a changed external condition, such as:

• The simultaneous orchestration of an autonomous freight convoy.
• Exchanging data between CAVs and drones so that they can ‘learn’ about issues from each other.
• Using cameras to count, identify or enforce movements, or detect criminal activity on a road or rail network where the data load and relay involved in sending raw video on the network is wasteful and introduces delay.

The benefits of 5G's Internet Protocol-based architecture are summarised nicely in this next video with Richard Foggie (UK5G) and Paul Spence (Dense Air).

Network Reliability - a missing piece of the complex CAV jigsaw

“There are two schools of the thought on how CAVs will utilise communications technology in the future”

Paul Spence, UK5G101 Webinar, 17 November 2021.?

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are often cited as providing multiple use cases for 5G. However, using 5G for collision avoidance?is probably not one of them because vehicles already have a lot of in-built safety-critical equipment to detect a vehicle’s position. Whilst trials are investigating outsourcing this to a 5G network, in reality it is likely to prove too expensive and might not improve?safety.

However, CAVs do?capture a lot of data about road condition, congestion, incidents etc. 5G could play a key role in harvesting these data and providing them to other vehicles and third parties, including journey planners and highways authorities. But, a substantial barrier to realising this is that we would need a costly, continuous roadside 5G network to facilitate data transfer.?

In the next short video, Paul Spence from Dense Air shares some of his experience from setting up the 5G private network for the Millbrook testbed, and explains why getting the reliability up is the next task.

4. What's next, and when can we start using 5G?

Currently, we have two main groups of pioneers exploring the implementation of 5G technology:

1. the 5G Testbeds and Trials project teams, who are exploring the potential to use high frequency 5G by setting up and testing private networks. Their work is highlighting the benefits of making fuller use of 5G’s technology capabilities. This is helping to identify future demand opportunities, as well as understand where 5G does and doesn't make sense.
2. the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) who are integrating lower frequency 5G technology into their existing 4G infrastructure (NSA) and who are poised to start rolling out mid-band Stand Alone (SA) 5G. Vodafone has already established a Stand Alone 5G Connection to Coventry University in place of fibre.

The MNOs are already providing some of the benefits of 5G to a wider population and creating a platform for future evolution and the development of business cases to justify installing new physical infrastructure. Some of this justification is already there because 4G equipment and expertise is bespoke. Therefore it is often simpler and cheaper to replace?4G kit with 5G kit that uses off-the-shelf IT.?

Stand Alone (SA) mid-band 5G is likely to become the sweet-spot for mass market 5G because it gives you most of the bandwidth and network technology improvements and some latency reduction. However, this will not be widely available for the next three to five years because of the scale and cost of the infrastructure replacement task.??

In the meantime, we need to use our growing knowledge of 5G’s capabilities to explore where and how we can use these in ways that are beneficial to us.

5. Use 5G to infill where needed in existing connectivity

What has struck me most about 5G’s potential is the need to balance coverage and capacity, and for new infrastructure to support higher capacity.

Ironically, the ‘on-the-move’ benefits of wireless connectivity for transport and logistics might prove elusive, except, possibly, along the UK’s busiest highway and railway routes, where the deployment business case is strongest.?

The expert advice right now is not to go and put mmWave, or even some mid-band 5G, everywhere but to focus on infilling not-spots of existing connectivity and building small networks to support specific use cases.?Creating something immediately valuable that can then be built upon.?

As Paul Spence explains in this final video, 5G is another tool in our connectivity toolbox, and is a welcome addition for certain use cases.

Closing thoughts

Before I started researching this article, I only had a vague idea what 5G was, and did not understand where it would best be deployed. Having now written this, I feel that both the revolutionisers and the sceptics make valid points. I can now appreciate the significant leap forward that 5G technology gives us. And that we are building a clearer picture of where and how we can use 5G in practical ways.

I'll admit it was easy to get sucked into the hype and assume that we had learnt much more than we have about that practical implementation of 5G technology. I now realise, through learning from others, that there is plenty of room for all of us to be an active voice in the thinking on how we make this work for us successfully.

The prospect of connecting wirelessly to remote?devices (IoT sensors, cameras etc) and processing video analytics to inform better customer service and business decisions is looking much closer than using 5G on the move.??