All about 5G network - differences and its application

Mobile communication technologies change every 10 years. Any of them significantly improves the speed of information transfer. This is how new services and new types of content appear. Users get new fun and a new level of life.

The fifth generation of cellular communications (5G) promises to be more disruptive than ever. Experts argue that it is through 5G that the Internet of Things, self-driving cars and VR will be transferred from the pages of technical media into human everyday life. In this article, we will tell you everything about the 5G network.

What is 5G?

Despite the fact that 4G connectivity has not yet gone global, companies are already conducting 5G tests.

5G Internet is being created with innovative technology trends in mind. It is focused on connecting a variety of household "smart" devices, most of which will function according to the "always online" rule. 4G communication, for its part, is mainly used in the role of cellular Internet.

5G (Fifth Generation) is a new generation of the cellular network operating on the basis of telecommunication formats in accordance with the current 4G formats.

Formats for 5G communications are still in the design phase. It is assumed that in reality, the next generation of communication will start working in 2020.

Where will it be used?

5G will be used where there is a high-speed Internet demand, in metropolitan areas. Early generation standards will be applied for comprehensive coverage.

Overview

Ordinary users do not currently need the colossal speeds of the new generation. But they will necessarily appear after the integration of technology, because, as everyone knows, people quickly get used to good things.

Synchronization cobweb

With a lower connection cost, more and more devices are gaining access to Wi-Fi. The system of interconnection of telephones, coffee and washing machines, headsets, lamps and other things into a coherent "web" is called the Internet of Things. It is estimated that by 2020 there will be more than 26 billion of these devices on the planet. And the number of connections, accordingly, will be even higher.

Gadgets' ability to “feel” through sensors and remote task execution will find use in local planning, smart home technologies, electrical and heating monitoring concepts, security, buses, taxis and retail.

The Internet of Things needs a low connection speed, but for many devices.Dedicated networks using low bandwidth have already been established, and 5G manufacturers are willing to participate in this process.

Consequently, telecommunication standards will have to support not only mobile users, but also "smart" household items. Controlling such patchy traffic is bound to help the new format.

Delay

It is clear that 5G will have support for automatic vehicle technology and VR software. In this situation, information should come in actual time. The round-trip interval in 4G is more than 10 ms, which is a very long time.

The next format is able to completely change the communication architecture with the transfer of information storage from data processing centers to final nodes, up to "smart" devices.

For example, a moving car needs information about the location of nearby vehicles. The current standards can no longer cope with the flow of such information for 3 machines. Colossal delays in the transmission of information require local distribution of information.

5G's responsiveness is slated to hit its limit. The transmission delay will not be more than 1 ms, even at a final speed of 500 km / h. This delay will become the main driving force behind the formation of innovative technologies, including driving in metropolitan areas and remote operations.

Features of 5G

Not so long ago, it turned out to optimize most of the characteristics, but the choice of technologies that guarantee their use in practice goes further. Among them:

1. Ultra-high frequencies, which were previously unrealistic, guarantee much higher speeds.
2. Developing concepts that send information in small chunks will delay IoT devices for an extended period.
3. Reduced latency for tasks that need instant response.

Differences from previous standards

The innovative mobile format will not arrive until 2020, but proper classifications are being created at full speed, making it clear that 5G will be significantly different from the previous one.

Speed ​​increase

The most understandable is an increase in speed (to the least extent by several times), a decrease in latency, a significant increase in the volume of communication, which is required for satisfaction, a steadily increasing demand for the World Wide Web. The trend is that after a while everything will be connected to the network: from various scanners to vehicles.

Key consumer - subscriber

In existing networks, the user must adapt himself: the signal is too bad - to move. 5G will use smart antennas that transform the orientation graph based on user needs in specific environments. For example, if a user is being served in a cell right now, information for him will pass through a narrow channel, which will increase the noise-to-signal ratio and improve the speed of information dissemination.

Transition to mm waves

The spectral source is limited, and it is extremely difficult to find the desired frequencies in the ranges familiar to the cellular network. It is clear that a significant increase in the speed of information dissemination requires significantly larger frequency spectra. A reasonable solution in this case is to move to the area of ​​tens of GHz.

Most users understand that with an increase in the operating frequency, the network distance quickly decreases, in other words, the size of the cell. In this regard, it is worth making a conclusion based on this point: the next generation communication will be used where there is a need for high-speed information transfer. By the way, full coverage is not yet considered.

MIMO technology

Its meaning is to use multiple antennas on the supplying and receiving sides. This technology originated in the definitions for 3G. Most LTE MIMO networks operate in 2x2 mode. Simply put, two antennas are for providing, two are for receiving.In 2x2 mode, information flows through two free channels simultaneously, which makes it possible to increase the propagation speed almost twice.

Now there are phones that support 4x4 mode. Alas, due to the small size of the phones, it is unrealistic to increase the number of antennas to infinity. Another difficulty is the need to transmit official announcements from each antenna, which reduces the effectiveness of the technology.

Device-to-device technology

Situations when users talk at a distance of tens of meters from each other have become more frequent. Due to the use of this technology, only signal traffic will go through the operator's connection, which makes it possible to evaluate these calls, and the information itself will be transmitted directly through the devices. This is the meaning of technology.

Reach agreement

If the situation with the designation of the spectrum of possible technologies became better back in 2015, then the technologies themselves are still being created. It is necessary to indicate which technologies of the new generation are needed immediately, and which ones should be introduced after some time.

Despite the lack of format and decisiveness in the importance of technology, manufacturing corporations are trying to lead the formation and implementation of new generation technologies in order to subsequently get a favorable place.

Nokia announced its purchase of Alcatel-Lucent back in 2015, and US telecom firm Verizon Wireless announced that the first 5G in America would be in 2016.

Technical obstacles

Institute of Telecommunications. Fraunhofer in Germany experimented with frequencies ranging from 40 to 100 GHz, Samsung uses 28 GHz in its own research, and Nokia uses more than 70 GHz.

The operation of devices in the mm spectrum of wavelengths has such a property as excessively weak signal transmission, the strength of which decreases significantly with distance from the base station. In addition, signal interference is caused by the human body.

What does Ericsson say?

From the point of view of Ericsson Corporation, the prospects are as follows.

Unmanned vehicles will communicate with each other. In the event of an accident, the car closest to the accident site will tell about the incident to all vehicles following it. This will give them the opportunity to slow down in a timely manner or, in a situation of congestion on the road, to design another scheme of movement.

Vehicle scanners will be able to correctly calculate the weather and send information via 5G so that the vehicle can design the proper driving directions.

In social transportation, 5G will allow monitoring the number of people waiting at bus stops. The driver of the vehicle will pass a deserted stop, and the operator will send the auxiliary vehicle to the points of congestion.

In the 5G era, all home appliances will be interconnected. If before that, while moving from one room to another, a person had to carry a portable device in order to continue, for example, listening to an interesting radio, now the speakers connected in different rooms will contact each other and playback will continue from the stopped place. In addition, the user can track the energy consumption of each device or find out how much electrical energy is generated by solar batteries.

What does Qualcomm offer?

The Qualcomm brand has offered 4.5G LTE Advanced technology, the integration of which is planned for the near future. Due to this, the company will be able to cover both the wider frequency range required for the 5G format and the previously located LTE networks, which will reduce latency and increase throughput.

Specificity:

• Excellent bandwidth due to the combination of frequency bands;
• Maintaining 23 operators synchronously and increasing throughput through frequency aggregation and transmission of network traffic between operators;
• 10-fold reduction in latency when compared to LTE Advanced, during the use of existing towers and frequencies within 1-70 μs;
• Application of incoming line funds for the needs of the outgoing line;
• Increasing the number of antennas at base stations in order to improve coverage and signal strength;
• Increased energy conservation of IoT devices by narrowing the spectrum to 1.4 MHz and 180 kHz (about 10 years on one battery);
• 1 Gigabit per second for data transfer between vehicles, users and IoT devices;
• Analysis of the environment without activating the wireless network or navigating the user's gadget.

Using 5G today

5G is designed to operate in multiple frequency bands. Low frequencies from 600 to 700 MHz are acceptable for the province or for the Internet of Things, since base stations have a large range. But the speed of information dissemination and a single volume of communication are at a low level.

The spectrum up to 6 GHz corrects this minus, however, mid-frequency BSs should be installed much more often, which is proved by the situation in large cities. RF up to 73 GHz guarantees maximum speeds up to 20 Gigabits / sec. for receiving and up to 10 Gigabits / sec. for distribution. The main difficulty is the quality of the signal exclusively in the line of sight of the BS, the spectrum is used to cover critical local areas.

As mentioned, the specific features of 5G are high bandwidth and low latency during data propagation. The result is achieved through the use of an innovative technology for multiplexing the NOMA signal, which allows simultaneous service of several subscribers in one channel. Early generation formats use temporary fractionation, with users alternately exchanging data with the base station.

Intel

First of all, it is necessary to highlight the merits of Intel. At the last Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the firm installed 5G. The UHD cameras connected to it made it possible to broadcast sports events online with the effect of presence.

The wireless hotspots also used 5G features and served many subscribers. The lion's share of the equipment was installed outdoors - a great experiment in gadget durability.

The corporation also announced a partnership with NNT DoCoMo and the installation of 5G at the 2020 Olympics in China. One of the goals of the partnership is to show and use the new capabilities of the “smart” city.

At this year's MWC, the corporation unveiled a concept laptop that supports 5G based on the proprietary XMM 8060 modem. Now the large chip is installed separately from the chip. To increase efficiency, the company is working on integrating the modem module into a single system.

In any case, what matters is that the corporation is working on an innovative standard that transforms the laptop into an even more versatile device. With the new gadget, the user will not have to worry about unsecured public wireless networks. You won't need to turn on the Wi-Fi hotspot on your phone either. Advertising of the first new products is planned for next year, partners of Intel Corporation are Microsoft, Dell, HP and Lenovo.

In addition, it was established about the partnership of Intel Corporation with the creator of mobile electronics - the Spreadtrum brand. The goal of the collaboration is to design Intel's XMM 8000 series of mobile processors with integrated 5G modem by the second half of next year.

Qualcomm

The firm first announced the X50 modem back in 2016. It is now revealed that the SDX50 will be part of the proprietary Snapdragon 855 chip, made using a 7nm process, which will be released early next year. It cannot be said that the version of the Qualcomm trademark is quite practical for installation on phones and tablet PCs.

Huawei

The Huawei brand is yet another peer in the 5G race. At this year's MWC, the firm showed off its Balong 5G01 modem, which guarantees speeds of up to 2.3 Gigabits / sec. Alas, now the dimensions of the microcircuit do not make it possible to use it in phones and tablet PCs. But, given the smartness of the brand, the emergence of the Kirin chip, which supports 5G, should be expected very soon.

Nokia Networks

The company is the second largest supplier of telecommunications equipment after the Huawei brand.The company has at its own disposal equipment that operates in the LF, MF and HF spectrum. Earlier this year, Nokia introduced fully featured 5G processors for Reef Shark base stations. The throughput of one block is within 84 Gigabits / sec. The installation of trade equipment based on the innovative processor was planned for the end of this year.

Who is involved in 5G in Russia

Domestic telecom operators keep up with the general trend. They have partnered with leading global network equipment providers such as Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia to develop 5G devices.

Megaphone

This operator was the first to show interest in innovative technology. Back in 2014, he agreed with the Huawei brand to form pilot 5Gs. They were launched this year during the 2018 World Cup.

In the summer of this year, Megafon launched the first 5G in Russia - for members of the economy meeting in St. Petersburg. The speed of information dissemination was equal to 1.24 Gigabits / sec. Megafon used Huawei brand equipment and a chip from Qualcomm.

Not so long ago, Megafon agreed with Nokia to develop 5G. In autumn, at the Nizhny Novgorod business meeting, they showed the leading information transfer rate - 5 Gigabits / sec. The members of the summit were shown a 360-degree UHD video broadcast on the display from VR glasses.

MTS

She joined the race in 2017. Like the previous one, this firm attributed the launch launches of 5G to the 2018 World Cup. Commercial implementation, according to the company's schedule, will start in 2019-2020.

In the winter of 2015, MTS signed an agreement on the collective development of 5G with Ericsson, in the spring with Nokia, and in the fall with Samsung. MTS conducted experiments in the fall on equipment from Nokia. The speed of information dissemination was within 4.5 Gigabits / sec.

Tele2

In the fall, we signed an agreement with Nokia Corporation on the formation of 5G and the design of services in the field of the Internet of Things.

Beeline

He is currently in dialogue with suppliers about 5G trials. The representative of the firm A. Aibasheva told Rusbase about this. But first, the company plans to adapt its own infrastructure and work with 4.5G. Going forward, this training will enable them to instantly integrate 5G.

When is 5G coming?

5G trade sales are planned for next year. All of them are limited to mass sports events. For example, mobile operator KT Corporation in South Korea launched 5G at this year's Pchenhang Olympics. Domestic MTS and Megafon plan to install 5G at the 2020 Summer Olympics in China.

Most of the experts are confident that large-scale 5G integration will start after 2020. Ericsson recently said that 550 million devices will be connected to these networks in 2022. Now corporations are just experimenting with equipment.

Now 5G is more likely an idea than a technology, since there is no common format yet. For the mass use of this connection to begin, it is necessary to create technological conditions, select frequencies and switch to innovative equipment.

5G in RF

The interlocutors of Rusbase are unanimous that the Russian Federation is still far from widespread introduction of 5G. Russian operators have not yet recouped their own investments in the creation of LTE networks. At the moment, LTE coverage is within 30%, in connection with which in the near future telecommunications organizations will pore over increasing this value. And 5G for them is only a reserve for the future.

S. Skvortsova, head of strategic development at Tele2, believes that 5G will be commercialized by 2021. According to her statement, there is a preliminary option on the way to 5G - LTE Advanced (LTE-A) technology. It supports speeds up to 100 Megabits / sec. For subscribers with high mobility and 1 Gigabits / sec., For stationary users.

In May last year, the media announced the plans of the Ministry of Communications to launch 5G in the megalopolises of the Russian Federation by 2020. Consequently, in 2020 the new format will be integrated into 8 megalopolises of the Russian Federation, and in 2025 already into 16 cities where the population is more than 1 million people.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that large-scale changes in cellular communications are expected in the near future.The number of devices connected to the network in the "always online" mode will increase rapidly. A scenario is likely when TV will switch to cellular networks.