Today, we as mobile users desire faster data speeds and more reliable services. In the last few decades, we have seen different generations of wireless networks. 1G delivered analog voice, 2G
introduced digital voice, 3G brought mobile data and 4G LTE ushered the era of mobile internet. As the number of mobile users and the demand for data rises, 4G have just about reached the limit of what they are capable of. Now that’s where the 5th generation of wireless networks comes into play.
5G is a complete new generation of wireless networks that can handle far more traffic at much higher speeds than the base stations that make up to today’s cellular networks.
Why 5G?
5G is quite different from the previous generations in many aspects. It has the potential to be about 40 times faster and suffer shorter latency compared to the current 4G standard. As per the 5G
specifications it will support the connection density of 1 Million devices around an area of 1Km which is 10 times more than the maximum support capacity of the 4G networks. It also promises enhanced mobile broadband with a download speed of 20 Gbps (Gigabytes per second) and an upload speed of 10 Gbps. It also enables communication with latency as low as 1 millisecond. Apart from these, it can also help the automation industry where machine to machine communication and
ultra-reliable communication is of significant importance. Overall, 5G can take us into an era where our lives will become much easier with the enhancement of virtual reality, autonomous driving, Internet of Things and more.
Building Blocks of 5G:
Engineers are designing a suite of brand-new technologies which can act as the foundation of 5G. The front runners include:-
Millimeter waves:
Though we get a considerable amount of speed in the 4G data, the current radio frequency spectrum is limited. One of the major problems faced by the wireless world today is the lack of bandwidth as more and more people started using devices that consume data more than ever. One way to solve this problem is to transmit data through a whole new spectrum, the millimetre waves which use higher frequencies compared to radio waves.
Small cells:
Repeaters or boosters are essential when it comes to any communication network as a signal loses its quality when it travels a long distance. As achieving 5G performance requires far more infrastructure, Small cells come into handy. They are similar to traditional repeaters but come with smaller and
much efficient antennas even while transmitting millimeter waves. Small cells can be placed every 250 meters in a city so as to preserve signal quality.
Massive MIMO:
MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output) came into existence in order to handle cellular traffic and fading in wireless communication. MIMO uses two or more transmitters and receivers to send and
receive data thereby reducing traffic. Massive MIMO takes this concept to a whole new level by enabling dozens of antennas in a single array thereby increasing the capacity of mobile networks by a factor of 22 or more.
Beamforming:
Massive MIMOs have to precisely transmit multiple data from many antennas at the same time while reducing the interference as much as possible. This can be done by incorporating a proper traffic signaling system along with Massive MIMO which identifies the best possible and most
efficient data delivery route for each data packet. This system is known as beamforming. Beamforming focuses signal in a concentrated beam that points only in the direction of a user, rather than broadcasting in many directions at once, thereby strengthening the signal’s chances of arriving intact and reduce interference for everyone else.
Full Duplex:
Today’s traditional base stations use half-duplex systems in which you can either transmit or receive at a particular time. 5G uses Full-Duplex with which a transceiver can send and receive data at
the same time thereby increasing the efficiency twofold.
A Full-Fledged 5G Era:
5G was launched commercially in South Korea on April 3, 2019. Companies like Samsung, Motorola, Huawei, LG, OnePlus and several other device makers have released 5G phones. Apple has also released iPhones(iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 pro, 12 pro max) supporting 5G networks on October 2020.Though 5G is already available in limited areas worldwide, significant adoption of 5G is going to take years. It is expected that by 2025 half of all mobile connections will be 5G. There
are also concerns regarding the security of 5G and its effects on human health. Experts are trying to solve all the challenges and figure out how to make the best out of 5G. Thus 5G is slowly taking toddler steps into the digital world with a goal of refining it for the better.
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