A few years ago inside this ballroom, we call a brain, hype about gigabit speeds that will let you download full-length movies in mere seconds, raced like a track for cars that speed without worry for the next turn. Now, this hype is a reality. I introduce you to 5G network.
The advancement in wireless communications has led to exponential growth in mobile devices i.e. smartphones. The deployment of 4G and LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks has delivered us more rich content, from video streaming to live gaming. It is taking its toll on bandwidth, which now needs to be addressed as demand grows.
So what is 5G? 5G is the fifth generation of wireless communication standards.
First, there was 2G, a set of standards governing wireless telephone calls. The mobile web did not yet exist. Then 3G arrived, making it possible to surf the internet on a Smartphone. 4G delivered speeds that enabled video streaming and an entire economy of apps that need to be sustained, reliable connectivity.
Combining cutting-edge network technology and the very latest research, 5G should offer connections that are multitudes faster than current connections, with average download speeds of around 1GBps expected to soon be the norm.
The networks will help power a huge rise in the Internet of Things technology, providing the infrastructure needed to carry huge amounts of data, allowing for a smarter and more connected world.
5G networks are already starting to appear and are expected to launch across the world by 2020, working alongside existing 3G and 4G technology to provide speedier connections that stay online no matter where you are. That’s for the rest of the world.
Verizon surprised most of the world by launching its 5G network at the start of April 2019, making it the first globally to offer the next-generation network. It’s currently only available in limited parts of Chicago and a few other locations, and there are just two handsets currently available to use on the new 5G network.
In Chicago, US they’ve managed to obtain speeds of up to 1.4Gbps, which is massively faster than 4G’s theoretical top speed of 300Mbps (although average speeds tend to be below 100Mbps). However, 5G coverage is patchy and they had to move around the city’s various 5G masts to get this top speed.
5G in London, UK is more of a mixed bag, with speeds in our test ranging from 200Mbps to 550Mbps — still much quicker than 4G, but not the same level as we are seeing in Chicago, this is according to techradar.com
Hackernonn.com summarizes what 5G is all about, as follows;
5G uses what are called “millimeter waves”, or short-wavelength radio signals. This requires a new swath of bandwidth that is allocated on the frequency spectrum between 30–300 GHz. This increases the bandwidth available to cram more data and accommodate more users. This will require shorter wavelengths than previous networks, which means they cannot travel long distances. These signals also cannot easily penetrate through walls and are easily absorbed by moisture and foliage.
To make sure that signals are able to travel farther without fading, “small cell” towers using a dense deployment will be installed within an area to handle the signaling. They will be much smaller than your typical cellular tower. These small cell towers will be placed within a distance of no less than 200 feet and no more than 1,000 feet apart, so they are pretty close to each other.
The advantage of being smaller is that there is more versatility to where they can be installed. They can be put on the side of buildings, utility poles, apartment rooftops just to give a few examples. The small cells then transmit and receive data on the 5G network covering a certain area. So the idea of 5G is replacing high power, low frequency towers with low power, high-frequency small cells that communicate with a base station.
To handle data traffic signaling, “beamforming” will be used. It determines the most efficient data delivery route in a 5G network. Beamforming actually sends the data from the small cell directly to the user. Since the signal is more concentrated, it reduces interference as well. Like its predecessor 4G, a 5G network makes use of packet switching over an IP network for data delivery.
MIMO or “Multiple-Input Multiple-Output” allows more signals to be sent and received at any given moment. This is implemented by installing more antennas as an array in a small cell. The problem of having so many antennas installed is addressed by beamforming. With MIMO, a base station can send and receive more signals to boost the capacity of a 5G network by a factor of 22, first reported by engineers at the University of Bristol and Sweden’s Lund University.
FACT: Wireless providers don’t actually use full-duplex transceivers. In a 5G network, the use of full-duplex will allow data to be transmitted and received on base station transceivers at the same time using the same frequency. Past systems that supported full-duplex communications had to separate frequency channels to allow 2 users to communicate at the same time without having to take turns transmitting and receiving. Now it is possible using just one frequency channel through a circuit design that utilizes high speed switching in the silicon. This allows antennas to transmit and receive while the incoming and outgoing signals are routed.
5G is already here, but unless the stars of your location, the wireless carrier you subscribe to and the smartphone you own are perfectly aligned, you probably can’t use it yet.
