5G, the technology that is supposed to be up 99.99 percent of the time, is two years away

Aurel Dragan 19/04/2018 | 08:16

5G technology is not right around the corner, but it is not too far away either. According to the plan so far, we should be expecting 5G from 2020 when we will have the new mobile wireless standard.

A formal standard for 5G is yet to be set but everybody knows that 5G stands for fifth generation of mobile wireless standard based on the IEEE 802.11 ac standards of broadband technology.

While today’s 4G technology provides a faster internet connection and a lower latency than the previous 3G, the future should meet a list of criteria, according to Groupe Speciale Mobile Association, in order to be called 5G. Among them we have one to ten Gbps connections to end points in the field, one millisecond end-to-end round trip delay, 1000x bandwidth per unit area, 10 to 100x number of connected devices, 100 percent coverage, 99.99 percent availability and 90 percent reduction in network usage.

The way 3G works is by receiving a signal from the nearest tower, signal that is used for phone calls, messaging and data. 4G works pretty much the same way, but with faster internet connection and voice over LTE (VoLTE) had just started to be implemented. LTE stands for Long-Term Evolution and it is the standard for wireless communications, mainly for upgrading from 3G to 4G.

4G was initially supposed to provide an internet speed up to 100 Mbps. The 100 Mbps barrier was broken through different ways by the operator, like 4G+ or 4.5G in which the smartphone uses two different frequencies and the data speed can go over 300 Mbps. Today we have operators with 4G+ technology that bring the speed up to 500 Mbps, and in tests using a Wi-Fi connection the speed goes even higher.

With 5G, the download speed should be at a minimum of 1 Gbps (1,000 Mbps) but nobody knows exactly how fast 5G will be after launch. Most estimates are at 10 Gbps.

“5G is the next communication technology that will use a new radio interface as well as being a new network. Today, 5G technology is being standardized, with the first commercial networks expected to become operational in 2020”, Orange Romania explains.

Taking into consideration that the download/upload speed for the end user is getting faster anyway, it is interesting to see what it will be used for.

 Due to the high speed of data transfer and reduced latency facilitated by 5G technology, users will be able to have an improved mobile experience, similar to the current fiber, for services such as UHD video streaming, virtual and augmented reality that will change both private and professional lives. For example, we can talk about virtual assistants for tourist services, we will be able to visit the doctor without actually going to the clinic, or a doctor will be able to perform an operation without being present in the hospital. For such operations, a very low latency of data transfer of up to 1ms is required.”

Also 5G is supposed to bring together all the IoT (Internet of Things) devices from TV sets and refrigerators to cars and smart lightbulbs. „5G technology will increase the number of mobile service users, plus an expanded IoT ecosystem that will benefit from higher download and upload speeds tailored to resource-rich content. Basically, 5G will offer more than just connectivity. This technology will allow mobile networks to perform more data traffic at higher and steady speeds”, explain Orange officials.

Today all the big players in communication are working on 5G. Intel, NTT DoCoMo, Huawei, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Vodafone, Orange, Telekom are just a few of big corporations developing 5G. And testers like Viavi are also ready. The company that just opened a center of excellence in Bucharest brought the latest devices able to test 5G antennas and work with the developers for the 5G infrastructure.

There is still some time before 5G will be up and running and the implementation will also be in phases, the way that 4G was implemented. The investment in the network  needed from the mobile operators goes up to tens or hundreds million euros, while customers will have to buy new devices that understand the new technology.

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