What is the 5G network and when do we get our hands on it?

The connected world has expanded its reach beyond smartphones, and the 5G revolution will become a premise for that new world to grow.

A few days ago, the International Telecommunications Union released a draft of the 5G network specification, with many notable figures such as 20 times the data rate of the current 4G-LTE standard, or support up to 1 million devices in 1 square kilometer. That means it won't be long before we can enjoy this technology on our phones.

However, switching to 5G will not happen too quickly. Operators need to upgrade their entire infrastructure to meet the requirements for this new network technology. Anyway, the 5G revolution not only helped deliver gigabytes of data to and from your iPhone faster, but it also had a wider impact. It will be the infrastructure for connecting information to self-driving cars, VR equipment, transport drones and your home connected equipment.

Basic about 5G

Before reading the lesson, you can read the previous article about 4G LTE .

Simply put, 5G is very similar to the way you are imagining it: faster than 4G, but certainly not as fast as instantaneous teleportation. There is still no definitive definition or hardware standard to build this network - even large operators are busy testing and touting their own technologies.

Until a few days ago, the big networkers had one thing in common for themselves, which was a draft of the specifications of this network technology. With data bandwidth much larger than 4G-LTE, in many cases, it can replace the Wifi network with faster speed and better coverage.

According to Verizon spokesman Marc Tracey: " Basically, 5G will bring a wider and faster connection path ." The recent draft of the 5G specification shows that the data download peak rate per cell is single to 20 Gbps, 20 times higher than the peak data rate over 4G-LTE, meaning you can load the whole set. Lord of the Rings movie in seconds and enjoy the VR world through wearable devices with almost no lag.

How does 5G work?

Currently, the new 5G network is planned to operate in the high frequency range of the wireless band - it is between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, also known as the millimeter wavelength band .

These millimeter wavelengths can transmit large amounts of data at very high speeds, but not as far as low-frequency wavelengths in the 4G network. In addition, high frequency millimeter wavelengths are also difficult to penetrate walls or obstacles.

In low-frequency networks such as 4G-LTE, antennas can be located far apart and obstacles are not a big problem. So when we started building the 5G network, operators had to use more antennas - many times - to have the same coverage as our current network. At that time you will see the mini antennas almost everywhere.

That's part of the reason why participants in the 5G network, like Qualcomm and Intel, are only testing at a range of less than 6 GHz, as a way to ensure data rate stability with creditors. millimeter signal. As with all other factors in the 5G revolution, all are in the first step.

So do I need to buy a new phone?

Sure, but the phone will probably have to come with a lot of internal antennas, but in return everything will happen very quickly in the new 5G network.

At MWC 2017, Chinese carrier ZTE has introduced the world's first prototype 5G smartphone, download speeds of up to 1Gb / s.

How much longer do we have to wait for 5G?

Operators in the US are aiming to 2020 to begin widespread coverage. Although that may seem like a long time, but this is still an ambitious period - to cover 5G, operators need new antennas, new devices and new applications for wireless data.

" With the growth of the 4G network, data is revolving around smartphones, " said Rob Topol, Intel's 5G general manager. " For 5G, we are looking for potential beyond smartphones ." More specifically, this means that devices such as self-driving cars, virtual reality devices, drones and more will be the first to take advantage of these benefits.

For 5G, the range of connectivity will go beyond smartphones, with IoT and self-driving cars.

Recently, Verizon said it will deploy 5G service in 11 US cities by the middle of this year, but instead of mobile services, they will use it to replace the fixed broadband. While AT&T will also bring DirectTV Now video service through 5G to a limited number of its customers in Austin, Texas. Last year, Sprint also played live video of a soccer game in 4K resolution via 5G, while T-Mobile planned to use 5G to create a high-speed link for VR video playback.

On the hardware side, both Intel and Qualcomm have introduced 5G modems, as well as other infrastructure devices to support a variety of tests that will be deployed this year.

Language for billions of devices

Because it is designed to create a continuous connection for a world of tens of billions of devices, the 5G network will be designed to accommodate the needs of individual devices. If you are streaming a 4K video to a large screen TV, the 5G network will prioritize absolute data traffic for you. If it is for a connection between a control panel and a drone, it will prioritize quick response.

For mobile devices, 5G will help repair many problems of 4G and existing wireless technologies. It will be designed to support more users and devices simultaneously (according to ITU specifications, each 5G cell will support 1 million devices on an area of ​​1 km2), with speeds higher than 4G. The slow speed of your data while in a crowded event will only be past.

Until now, although the draft 5G specifications have been released, it still needs to be officially approved, expected later this year. Meanwhile, operators as well as equipment manufacturers will have a basis to identify their infrastructure and embark on the deployment of this revolutionary technology on a large scale.