5G

What is 5G technology?

The next (5th) generation wireless network will address evolution beyond the mobile internet. The most notable evolution compared to the current 4G and 4.5G (LTE advanced) networks is that, apart from the increase in the speed of the data, new cases of use of the Internet of Things and communication will require new types of performance improved; as "low latency", which provides a real-time interaction to the services that use the cloud, which is key, for example, for autonomous vehicles. In addition, low power consumption will allow connected objects to work for months or years without the need for human intervention.

Unlike the current Internet of Things services that sacrifice performance to take full advantage of existing wireless technologies (3G, 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.), 5G networks will be designed to reach the level of performance that needs the Internet of Things massive. This will make it possible to perceive a completely ubiquitous and connected world.

 

The 5G technology is characterized by:

• A data rate of up to 10Gbps -> 10 to 100 times better than 4G and 4.5G networks.


• Latency of 1 millisecond.


• A broadband 1000 times faster per unit area.


• Up to 100 more connected devices per unit area (compared to 4G LTE networks).


• Availability of 99.999%


• 100% coverage


• Reduction of 90% in the power consumption of the network.


• Up to 10 ten years of battery life in low-power IoT (Internet of Things) devices.

 

How does 5G work?

5G uses a large amount of technology in an attempt to achieve fast speeds. There is not only one innovation at stake.

The new standard will use a completely new band of 4G radio spectrum. 5G will take advantage of "millimeter waves", transmitted at frequencies between 30 and 300 GHz compared to bands below 6 GHz that were used in the past. Previously, these were only used for communication between satellites and radar systems. But millimeter waves can not travel easily through buildings or other solid objects. So 5G will also take advantage of the "small cells", small miniature-based stations that can be placed every 250 meters in dense urban areas. These would provide much better coverage in such places.

These base stations also use "massive MIMO". MIMO stands for "multiple input multiple output". You could even have a wireless home router with MIMO technology. Which means you have multiple antennas that you can use to talk to several different wireless devices at the same time instead of quickly switching between them. Massive MIMO will use dozens of antennas in a single base station. They will also take advantage of beam formation to better direct those signals. Directing the wireless signal in a beam that points to the device and reducing interference for other devices.

The 5G base stations will also operate in full duplex. Which means that they can transmit and receive at the same time, on the same frequency. Today, they have to change between modes of transmission and listening, slowing things down. That's just a snapshot of the technology that is being incorporated to make the 5G so fast.

PDF File: 5G - Vega, Ernesto