5G and Beyond Wireless Ecosystem

 

5G Wireless: A Transformative, Disruptive Technology

- Unlocking The Future

Though the possibilities that may be realized through 5G are still largely theoretical, even conservative predictions make it clear that this technology will have an unprecedented impact on the way humans live. Everyone wants a piece of that pie. But it’s not yet clear exactly how they’ll claim it. Many concerns around 5G are related to this discrepancy in strategy, and the fear that public and private interests are rushing into the rollout of something they do not yet fully understand.

Widespread commitment to the establishment of 5G networks has been varied, and in some areas even slow to pick up. This is largely the result of financial tension: the upside of gaining a competitive advantage in this space may be significant, but the capital risks are just as great. Because 5G is not the same as the Gs that came before. Implementing this technology does not simply require an upgrade of the current network, it demands a new type of network altogether. 

Initially, 5G will need to integrate the established operations of 4G, especially LTE, but in order to scale their networks quickly and access 5G’s full potential, operators will need to redefine their network architecture, operations, and services. 

- 5G: A Smart Wireless Ecosystem

The 5G Ecosystem is a rapidly expanding industry of suppliers from device manufacturing, network supply and maintenance, system integration, test & validation and consulting. Intelligent Industry, powered by data, is the evolution of Industry 4.0. The rapid development of key technologies like 5G, Edge computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) means that every type of company, in sectors as diverse as healthcare, automotive manufacturing, even services, can start to do business in a new way.

5G shouldn’t be seen simply as the next generation of mobile communications. It’s a smart ecosystem that’s ready to ignite new innovations and highly customized services, for example, smart cities, smart home, smart health, and smart workplace. The 5G networks will be based on an architecture that will spawn an entirely new ecosystem of technological and enterprise innovations. The 5G architecture of those networks will support thousands of new applications in the consumer and business segments, including vertical markets such as manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and automobiles.

The 5G networks will require a sophisticated integration of massive computing and storage infrastructures. In the new 5G architecture, mobile operators will need to plan for the necessities of higher network capacities, denser cell-site grids, small-cell deployments at the street level, virtualized network functions (VNF), and evolving roles of mission-critical applications.

- 5G and The Evolution of Communication Now and in the Future

As fiber revolutionized the Internet, it is believed that 5G will do the same for mobile devices. The telecom operators worldwide want to move beyond the smartphone and the business-to-consumer models. The carriers have been bleeding capex (capital expenditures), and now they need to move beyond the smartphone consumer to the Internet of things, industrial IoT, and business-to-business models.

The world of 5G is far from simple, and it's getting more complex as the big wireless carriers roll out their 5G networks and manufacturers release smartphones capable of operating on them. The most important promise made by the proprietors of 5G wireless technology - the telecom service providers, the transmission equipment makers, the antenna manufacturers, and even the server manufacturers - is this: "Once all of 5G's components are fully deployed and operational, you will not need any kind of wire or cable to deliver communications or even entertainment service to your mobile device, to any of your fixed devices (HDTV, security system, smart appliances), or to your automobile."

If everything works, 5G would be the optimum solution to the classic 'last mile' problem: "Delivering complete digital connectivity from the tip of the carrier network to the customer, without drilling another hole through the wall."

- The Industry Is Moving From Mobility-driven Industry To AI-driven Industry

5G is the “first generation of a connected compute” wireless technology. With automotive, mobile, and industrial systems able to connect to the cloud at very low per-bit costs, there will be a synergy between AI and connected computing. The timing of AI and 5G working together is major inflection point. We will be able to connect systems with deep-learning accelerators [in the cloud]. That won’t happen in 2020, when 5G debuts, but when we find that inflection point between the two, it will be pretty impactful for the industry. 

The wireless 5G network can move large amounts of data more quickly, with some suggesting it will offer speeds up to 1,000 times faster than 4G LTE - 10 gigabits per second vs. 4G's 100 megabits per second. Best of all, 5G will do all of this high-speed data transfer with low latency, meaning there will be minimal delays. While the current 4G network has a delay time of about 50 milliseconds, 5G will cut it to only 1 millisecond. Such high speeds at low latency will revolutionize services such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), and live-streaming. The faster and more reliable 5G network also has the potential to power machine-learning technologies including autonomous vehicles, smart cities, and the Internet of Things (IoT), as more devices can connect and communicate with one another seamlessly. 

The industry is moving from a mobility-driven model to an AI-driven industry. AI needs lots of data, from many sources, with lots of compute power. 5G technology will support massively scalable, low-latency-enabled applications that in turn will open up new ecosystems, business models, and creativity across the enterprise and residential markets in every industry. 5G will be the platform that allows data to flow between the IoT and the cloud. 

[Beautiful Islands in The Pacific - NY Hall of Science]

- 5G Spectrum Bands

5G presents some new challenges for wireless operators. On one hand, 5G networks are intended to support faster mobile broadband speeds and lower latencies making new applications possible like on-demand video and autonomous vehicles. On the other hand, 5G will require wireless operators to have access to large amounts of spectrum to make these new services a reality. 

The GSMA, a global trade organization that represents mobile operators, recommends that regulators and government agencies that control 5G spectrum allocation make 80-100 MHz of contiguous spectrum available per operator in prime 5G bands and about 1 GHz of spectrum per operator available in millimeter wave bands. 

But spectrum is a scarce resource and that means that wireless operators around the world are most likely going to have to use a mix of low-band, mid-band, and high-band spectrum to deliver the type of 5G experience that their customers demand.

- 5G Low-band Spectrum

5G low-band spectrum offers blanket coverage. Low-band spectrum is any spectrum that is lower than 1 GHz on the spectrum chart. Early wireless networks, often referred to as analog cellular, were deployed in low-band 800 MHz spectrum. At the time operators often referred to low-band spectrum as “beachfront property” because it was so desirable. Wireless carriers could serve thousands of customers within hundreds of square miles with just one tower.

- 5G Mid-band Spectrum 

5G mid-band spectrum provides coverage and capacity. Spectrum in the 1 GHz – 6 GHz frequencies is mid-band spectrum and it is considered ideal for 5G because it can carry plenty of data while also traveling significant distances. The GSMA describes spectrum in the 3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz range as particularly appealing. However, other mid-band spectrum is also being used for 5G. For example, operators in China and Japan are planning to use 4.5 GHz -5 GHz spectrum for 5G. And some operators in U.S. and Canada are planning to use (or are already using) the 2.3 GHz and the 2.5 GHz-2.6 GHz spectrum for 5G.

- 5G High-band Spectrum

5G high-band spectrum delivers super-fast speeds over short distances. The third bucket of spectrum where wireless operators are deploying 5G is in the millimeter wave spectrum. This is very high on the spectrum chart in the 24 GHz band and higher. The GSMA recommends that operators support millimeter wave spectrum in the 26 GHz, 40 GHz, 50 GHz and 66 GHz frequency bands for mobile services. However, the association also notes that spectrum in the 26 GHz and 28 GHz already have strong momentum from operators and added that these bands are adjacent and therefore make it easier for handsets to support.

- 5G Three Use Cases

5G is different from all “G” predecessors in a lot of ways. 5G is not simply a network, but rather an ecosystem that supports vertical applications and industries, enabled by the three use cases. The three sets of use cases are as follows:  

• Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB): data-driven use cases requiring high data rates across a wide coverage area.

• Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC): strict requirements on latency and reliability for mission critical communications, such as remote surgery, autonomous vehicles or the Tactile Internet.

• Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC): need to support a very large number of devices in a small area, which may only send data sporadically, such as Internet of Things (IoT) use cases.

The 5G future of networking promises high speeds, low latency and plenty of bandwidth to support concurrent connections, all of which will be transformative. But the excitement over this next-gen tech is about more than a speed or capacity bump. The 5G era has the potential to radically transform the way we think about and use mobile networks and networks in general.

 [More to come ...]