5G: 5th
Generation Fixed or Mobile Wireless Systems
TACS is
a leading top consultancy firm in the field of nG.
TACS
consultants are the first inventors of fixed or mobile packet
radio structures in the world for 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and 6G wireless
systems.
5G mobile
systems are expected to provide lightning speed, ultra-reliable
communications for broadband. Users have more expectations for
services in 5G enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB) , Ultra-reliable
and low-latency communications (URLLC) and massive machine type
communications (mMTC). New services over eMBB, URLLC, and eMBB
have been launched.
TACS
Delivers the insight and vision
on technology for strategic decisions on 5G.
Assesses technologies and standards and develops
architectures for 5G.
Provides
the energy and experience of world-wide leading innovators and experts in
5G.
Millimeter waves, massive MIMO, full
duplex, beamforming, and small cells are just a few of the
technologies that could enable ultrafast 5G networks
Today’s mobile users want faster data speeds and more reliable
service. The next generation of wireless networks—5G—promises to
deliver that, and much more. With 5G, users should be able to
download a high-definition film in under a second (a task that could
take 10 minutes on 4G LTE). And wireless engineers say these
networks will boost the development of other new technologies, too,
such as autonomous vehicles, virtual reality, and the Internet of
Things.
If all goes well, telecommunications companies hope to debut the
first commercial 5G networks in the early 2020s. Right now, though,
5G is still in the planning stages, and companies and industry
groups are working together to figure out exactly what it will be.
But they all agree on one matter: As the number of mobile users and
their demand for data rises, 5G must handle far more traffic at much
higher speeds than the base stations that make up today’s cellular
networks.
To achieve this, wireless engineers
are designing a suite of brand-new technologies. Together, these
technologies will deliver data with less than a millisecond of delay
(compared to about 70 ms on today’s 4G networks) and bring peak
download speeds of 20 gigabits per second (compared to 1 Gb/s on 4G)
to users.
At the moment, it’s not yet clear which technologies will do the
most for 5G in the long run, but a few early favorites have emerged.
The front-runners include millimeter waves, small cells, massive
MIMO, full duplex, and beamforming. To understand how 5G will differ
from today’s 4G networks, it’s helpful to walk through these five
technologies and consider what each will mean for wireless users.
Millimeter Waves
Today’s wireless networks have run
into a problem: More people and devices are consuming more data than
ever before, but it remains crammed on the same bands of the
radio-frequency spectrum that mobile providers have always used.
That means less bandwidth for everyone, causing slower service and
more dropped connections.
One way to get around that problem is to simply transmit signals on
a whole new swath of the spectrum, one that’s never been used for
mobile service before. That’s why providers are experimenting with
broadcasting on millimeter waves, which use higher frequencies than
the radio waves that have long been used for mobile phones.
Millimeter waves are broadcast at frequencies between 30 and 300
gigahertz, compared to the bands below 6 GHz that were used for
mobile devices in the past. They are called millimeter waves because
they vary in length from 1 to 10 mm, compared to the radio waves
that serve today’s smartphones, which measure tens of centimeters in
length.
Until now, only operators of satellites and radar systems used
millimeter waves for real-world applications. Now, some cellular
providers have begun to use them to send data between stationary
points, such as two base stations. But using millimeter waves to
connect mobile users with a nearby base station is an entirely new
approach.
There is one major drawback to millimeter waves, though—they
can’t easily travel through buildings or obstacles and they can be
absorbed by foliage and rain. That’s why 5G networks will likely
augment traditional cellular towers with another new technology,
called small cells.
Small Cells
Small cells are portable miniature
base stations that require minimal power to operate and can be
placed every 250 meters or so throughout cities. To prevent signals
from being dropped, carriers could install thousands of these
stations in a city to form a dense network that acts like a relay
team, receiving signals from other base stations and sending data to
users at any location.
While traditional cell networks have also come to rely on an
increasing number of base stations, achieving 5G performance will
require an even greater infrastructure. Luckily, antennas on small
cells can be much smaller than traditional antennas if they are
transmitting tiny millimeter waves. This size difference makes it
even easier to stick cells on light poles and atop buildings.
This radically different network structure should provide more
targeted and efficient use of spectrum. Having more stations means
the frequencies that one station uses to connect with devices in one
area can be reused by another station in a different area to serve
another customer. There is a problem, though—the sheer number of
small cells required to build a 5G network may make it hard to set
up in rural areas.
In addition to broadcasting over millimeter waves, 5G base stations
will also have many more antennas than the base stations of today’s
cellular networks—to take advantage of another new technology:
massive MIMO.
Massive MIMO
Today’s 4G base stations have a dozen
ports for antennas that handle all cellular traffic: eight for
transmitters and four for receivers. But 5G base stations can
support about a hundred ports, which means many more antennas can
fit on a single array. That capability means a base station could
send and receive signals from many more users at once, increasing
the capacity of mobile networks by a factor of 22 or greater.
This technology is called massive MIMO. It all starts with MIMO,
which stands for multiple-input multiple-output. MIMO describes
wireless systems that use two or more transmitters and receivers to
send and receive more data at once. Massive MIMO takes this concept
to a new level by featuring dozens of antennas on a single array.
MIMO is already found on some 4G base stations. But so far, massive
MIMO has only been tested in labs and a few field trials. In early
tests, it has set new records for spectrum efficiency, which is a
measure of how many bits of data can be transmitted to a certain
number of users per second.
Massive MIMO looks very promising for the future of 5G. However,
installing so many more antennas to handle cellular traffic also
causes more interference if those signals cross. That’s why 5G
stations must incorporate beamforming.
Beamforming
Beamforming is a traffic-signaling system for cellular base stations
that identifies the most efficient data-delivery route to a
particular user, and it reduces interference for nearby users in the
process. Depending on the situation and the technology, there are
several ways for 5G networks to implement it.
Beamforming can help massive MIMO arrays make more efficient use of
the spectrum around them. The primary challenge for massive MIMO is
to reduce interference while transmitting more information from many
more antennas at once. At massive MIMO base stations,
signal-processing algorithms plot the best transmission route
through the air to each user. Then they can send individual data
packets in many different directions, bouncing them off buildings
and other objects in a precisely coordinated pattern. By
choreographing the packets’ movements and arrival time, beamforming
allows many users and antennas on a massive MIMO array to exchange
much more information at once.
For millimeter waves, beamforming is primarily used to address a
different set of problems: Cellular signals are easily blocked by
objects and tend to weaken over long distances. In this case,
beamforming can help by focusing a signal in a concentrated beam
that points only in the direction of a user, rather than
broadcasting in many directions at once. This approach can
strengthen the signal’s chances of arriving intact and reduce
interference for everyone else.
Besides boosting data rates by broadcasting over millimeter waves
and beefing up spectrum efficiency with massive MIMO, wireless
engineers are also trying to achieve the high throughput and low
latency required for 5G through a technology called full duplex,
which modifies the way antennas deliver and receive data.
Full Duplex
Today's base stations and cellphones
rely on transceivers that must take turns if transmitting and
receiving information over the same frequency, or operate on
different frequencies if a user wishes to transmit and receive
information at the same time.
With 5G, a transceiver will be able to transmit and receive data at
the same time, on the same frequency. This technology is known as
full duplex, and it could double the capacity of wireless networks
at their most fundamental physical layer: Picture two people talking
at the same time but still able to understand one another—which
means their conversation could take half as long and their next
discussion could start sooner.
Some militaries already use full duplex technology that relies on
bulky equipment. To achieve full duplex in personal devices,
researchers must design a circuit that can route incoming and
outgoing signals so they don’t collide while an antenna is
transmitting and receiving data at the same time.
This is especially hard because of the tendency of radio waves to
travel both forward and backward on the same frequency—a principle
known as reciprocity. But recently, experts have assembled silicon
transistors that act like high-speed switches to halt the backward
roll of these waves, enabling them to transmit and receive signals
on the same frequency at once.
One drawback to full duplex is that it also creates more signal
interference, through a pesky echo. When a transmitter emits a
signal, that signal is much closer to the device’s antenna and
therefore more powerful than any signal it receives. Expecting an
antenna to both speak and listen at the same time is possible only
with special echo-canceling technology.
With these and other 5G technologies, engineers hope to build the
wireless network that future smartphone users, VR gamers, and
autonomous cars will rely on every day. Already, researchers and
companies have set high expectations for 5G by promising ultralow
latency and record-breaking data speeds for consumers. If they can
solve the remaining challenges, and figure out how to make all these
systems work together, ultrafast 5G service could reach consumers in
the next five years.
TACS is
a leading top consultancy firm in the field of nG.
TACS is
Pioneer and Innovator of many Communication Signal Processors,
Optical Modems, Multi-User Radio Modems, 1G Modems, 2G Modems,
3G Modems, 4G Modems, 5G Modems, 6G Modems, Satellite Modems,
PSTN Modems, Cable Modems, PLC Modems, IoT Modems and more..
TACS consultants are the first inventors of fixed or mobile
packet radio structures in the world.