Road Map to 5G

o   The discussion on fifth generation mobile communication (5G) began around 2012. Before this we should aware about the older generation of mobile communication. The 1st generation of mobile communication which was emerged around 1980 and it was based on Analogue transmission (AMPS,NMT,TACS ). This is limited to voice services.

o    Digital transmission comes in play and the second Generation (2G ) mobile communication emerged in 1990s . ( GSM, D- AMPS,PDC, CDMA-IS 95 ).Although the target service was still voice, the digital communication also allowed second generation to use limited Data services . 

o   The third generation mobile communication (3G) was introduced in the early 2000s . This was a true step to high quality mobile broadband. 

o   We are using fourth generation (4G) globally from 2010 onwards. It offers high speed in mobile broad band and much faster and have low latency when compared to its predecessors.

Mobile Communication 

      But the 5th generation mobile communications (5G) have much more extended use cases and it is going to be the catalyst for the 4th industrial revolution (INDUSTRY 4.0). South Korea, United States ,China & Japan  are the countries which lead the race for 5G

   

5G Phase1 & Phase2 Release-IMT-2000

   

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What is 5G??

       Unlike its predecessor 5G is not only deals with Mobile Broadband but also with 2 more use cases which are depicted below.

IMT-2020 Use Cases

I.          eMBB   
( enhanced Mobile Broadband): 

As we discussed earlier,The mobile broadband started with 3G which is further elaborated in 4G.The demand is enormously increased and new applications are emerging, setting new requirements called enhanced Mobile Broadband scenario.User experienced data rate, peak data rate, area traffic capacity, mobility, energy efficiency and spectrum efficiency all have high importance in this use case.The eMBBs scenarios in general seen as addressing Human-centric communication.

                   

II.          mMTC 
 ( massive Machine Type Communication):  

       This is a pure machine centric use case, with a large number of connected devices that typically required low data volume. This is not delay sensitive.High connection density is needed to support tremendous number of devices in the network. A low cost device with long operational lifetime is vital for this usage scenario.            

 Eg: Smart City, Smart Home/Building                                         

III.          uRLLC  
(Ultra Reliable and Low latency Communication )

       This scenario is intended to cover both Human & Machine centric communication. This use case is characterized with stringent requirements for Latency, Reliability and high availability.

Eg: Vehicle to vehicle communication, Wireless Control of Industrial equipment, Remote Medical surgery. An example for human centric Use case is 3D gaming where low latency is also combined with high data rate.

      The 5G having a Sliced Architecture, each section deals with one of the 3 use cases mentioned above. Some use cases required High Data rate , but some required  Low latency  and some demands only massive device connectivity with low Data rate.

       There are  8 Key performance Indicators which are derived from this 3 use cases. IMT-2020 is the new ITU-R recommendation for 5G, containing the Radio Interface Technologies (RITs), planned to be developed in   2019-20. 

1.        Network Energy Efficiency
2.       Area Traffic Capacity
3.       Peak Data Rate  
4.       User experienced data Rate 
5.       Spectrum Efficiency
6.       Mobility
7.       Latency
8.       Connection Density

5G -IMT-2020 KPI

Relation between 3 Use cases & KPI

                                   

  Why we Require 5G  & How 5G will change the world ?

o   The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil , but Data.  The amount of data carried over  a network were in 100 Tera byte which is now changed to several thousand of Tera byte and going to touch 1Lakh Tera byte. Also this data need to be taken to the various application server and need to be processed, analysed and action need to be taken within short span of time ( we will call it as Latency). The 4G network is not sufficient to handle this. We required a new technology which can handle the infinite amount of data with a minimum Latency. The technology which can fulfil this requirement is 5G.

o    5G moves the mobile communication from connecting people to people to connecting  people to everything. All the things in the world will be connected to the internet. By 2022 it is anticipated that there will be more than half a billion 5G subscription, with a global population coverage of 15%. Mobile broadband continues to grow strongly. Estimated that more than 1 million new mobile broadband subscribers will be added every day upto the end of 2022.

o   All the industries (Automobile,Manufacturing,Healthcare,supply chain, emergency services etc.) are already started to make the necessary changes to accept the 4^th industrial revolution

   Where we are now on 5G?

o   Mobile operators in South Korea were the first to launch 5G services on the global stage, beginning in April.  3 operators, SKT, KT & LG Uplus      started their 5G services in main cities like Seol. Samsung says ,   it had delivered more than 53000 base stations to all the 3 operators . Huawei and Ericsson are also working with the country’s top operators as they expand services.

o   In US  AT & T , Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile launches their 5G services in top 30 cities . All the operators except  Sprint used millimetre wave technology to launch 5G. Galaxy S10 ,LG V50, 5G,Moto Z4 & Z3, HTC 5G are the various devices that support 5G. AT & T, Verizon & Sprint  named Ericsson, Nokia & Samsung as its 5G equipment vendor. T-mobile has been selected  Ericson & Nokia as it 5G technology partner.

o   In China,  China Unicom & China mobile  are the 2 operators  working to launch 5G networks by the end of 2019.

o   In Japan,  DoCoMo, KDDI, Softbank are the 3 operators which are in race for 5G. Expected a commercial launch by 2020

  In INDIA  it is anticipated that the 5G spectrum launch will happen immediately after 2019-election. This was with a vision that all consumers and industries in India should get the benefit of the 5G like any other developed countries. As per the latest news it is postponed to end of 2019.Need to buck up to create an Ecosystem for 5G and the 4^th industrial revolution.As per the latest news all the top 3 operators are planned to stay away from the auction due to the huge cost involved to get 5G spectrum. This will further delay the 5G commercialization.

Links:///

Ericsson: Define 5G

Samsung Networks 5G activities

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                                                                                 Aneesh.M