5G will hit the market by 2020

5G Era can be expected to revolutionise the way we communicate by creating a more ‘hyper-connected’ society that is increasingly demanding high-speed wireless connections. In fact, the fifth Generation network is expected to provide super high data rate, better coverage with smaller “PICO” cells placed in blackspots, lower battery consumption than 3G or 4G and much more capacity to make calls and use the internet in high traffic areas like stadiums, shopping centres and at events.

5G and the “Internet of Things”

Internet of Things is about connecting devices over the internet, letting them talk to us, applications, and each other.

The smart fridge is an example of machine-to-machine device of the future that can connect to your mobile app and tell you whether it’s time to go shopping, text you if food is out of date or suggest you some recipes with the ingredients left in the fridge. It is important to define what Internet of Things mean because it will become reality with the 5G technology.

With the 5G technology, devices will be able to maintain network connectivity regardless of time and location and open the possibility to connect all the connected devices without human intervention. Other examples of machine-to-machine services include wireless metering, mobile payments, smart grid and critical infrastructure monitoring, connected home, smart transportation, and telemedicine. Intelligent devices will communicate with each other autonomously in the background and share information freely.

5G and the cloud

The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet. With cloud computing, you can store and access data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer’s hard drive.

With the 5G technology, we will have everything stored and processed in the cloud and immediately accessed in real time. For instance, when you go shopping, the intelligent device can notify you about the arrival of a new product, or let you know how much is going to cost in different shops around your location. Notifications can be triggered, for instance, as you step into a shop or area and everything is done on a cloud server that is potentially half a world away.

What to expect from 5G technology

1. High data rates

4G mobile communications system was developed to provide high capacity and highest rate data service for mobile multimedia. Although 4G can still support HD video streaming, there are apps like high definition gaming, 3D contents and ultra HD 4K video streaming which require faster data rates, around 25Mbps, to provide the best experience to mobile users.

5G networks are expected to have the peak data rate of around 10 Gbps which is a 100-fold improvement over current 4G networks.

2. Network scalability

By 2020, it has been predicted that every person in the planet will have an average of 4.3 internet-connected devices for a total of 33 billion devices worldwide.  To support an increasing amount of smart devices that connect to the wireless network and communicate with each other, network scalability will be an important factor in design of the 5G. High volume of signalling and data transmission will be supported by significant new widely harmonised mobile spectrum to ensure 5G services meet future expectations and deliver on the full range of potential capabilities.

3. Higher Capacity

With the expected growth in the number of Internet o Things connected devices, the mobile grid will become much denser than it is today with a consequent need of increasing capacity per cell site. With 5G in place, the grid will incorporate the addition of macro cells as well as small cells on poles, towers, rooftops – also mass deployment at the street level, utilizing street furniture and light poles as physical infrastructure.

4. Improved security

In order to maintain and protect user privacy and basic connectivity, 5G system will improve security on the whole network, protecting users’ personal information as well as addressing concerns of authorization and accounting.

5. More responsive

Latency is a crucial factor in 5G, especially for applications that require real-time interactions with the user. This demand in latency reduction requires technological innovation in waveform design as well as a flexible architecture in the higher layers of the network, which can be addressed by wireless software-defined networking.

6. Low energy consumption

Current wireless communication systems are mainly powered by traditional carbon-based energy sources and are responsible for 5% of the world’s CO2 emissions. In light of this matter, it is essential that 5G keeps the energy consumption at a minimum rate as energy consumption has become a primary concern in the design and operation of wireless communication systems of the future. Low-energy consumption will also have the advantage to drive costs down and support, for example, sensors with 15 years battery lifetime.

References

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/11/homes-fooddrinks

http://www.samsung.com/global/business-images/insights/2015/Samsung-5G-Vision-0.pdf

https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/towards-5g