Technology Trends/5G Networks
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Status | Published | ||||||
Initial release | June 25, 2019 | ||||||
Latest version | February 17, 2020 | ||||||
Official publication | 5G Networks.pdf | ||||||
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5G Networks also known as 5G NR (“new radio”), stands for 5th-Generation cellular wireless technology.[1] In the mobile universe, a generation (a ‘G’) usually indicates a compatibility break – meaning that users will need new equipment.[2] Although wireless generations have technically been defined by their data transmission speeds, each has also been marked by a break in encoding methods, or “air interfaces,” that make it incompatible with the previous generation.[3]
Business Brief
With today’s 4G network, internet infrastructure providers are quickly realizing that 4G is not equipped to handle the increase in mobile data traffic. By 2020, the projected mobile traffic will be too great for 4G networks to support. To resolve this issue, providers and consumers will need to make the shift to 5G networks.
In order to enhance data rate in existing 3G networks, another two technology improvements were introduced to the network. HSDPA – High Speed Downlink Packet access and HSUPA – High Speed Uplink Packet Access, developed and deployed to the 3G networks, known as 3.5G. The next 3G development, known as the 3.75 system, is an improved version of 3G networking with HSPA+ – High Speed Packet Access Plus. Later, this system would evolve into the more powerful 3.9G system known as LTE (Long Term Evolution).
5G – Unlicensed Spectrum: a 5G network has three main advantages over its predecessor:
- It is set to offer between 10 and 20Gbps data download speed;
- It offers low latency, of less than a millisecond, which is crucial for applications that need to be updated in real-time; and
- Because the technology makes use of millimeter radio waves (mmWave) for transmission, it can provide higher bandwidth over current LTE networks, as well as much higher data rates.
In practical terms, this means that 5G networks will be able to provide access to cloud storage, the ability to run enterprise applications, and the power to run more complex tasks virtually. A 5G network also offers the possibility of 100x more device connections than 4G LTE. It may also offer a 90% reduction in energy consumption compared to 4G, while providing internet speeds currently only capable of being achieved through a direct network connection via fiber optic cable.
5G is also poised to transform the world of IoT devices. The use of mmWave and 5G core network not only allow for faster data transmission but also greater connection reliability. This means greater connectivity for new kinds of mobile applications, factory automation, autonomous vehicles and so forth. Essentially any IoT application currently using Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) will see incremental improvements. Many cellular vendors are set to release smartphones and other devices capable of connecting to 5G networks by the end of 2019. Currently, organizations such as AT&T have released 5G Evolution, which is a step up from 4G LTE but does not provide the full range of capabilities that 5G will.
Technology Brief
Much like current cellular networks, 5G divides a territory into small sectors in which devices connect to cell sites. These cell sites are then able to transmit encrypted data through the use of radio waves. Where 5G differs from its predecessor is in its ability to transmit these radio waves at much higher frequencies – which translates into faster data speeds, even faster than current fibre network speeds, which are 1Gbps. This minimal disruption has already seen real world application when Sprint released a similar feature with its LAA technology. In the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, these frequencies are between 30 and 300 GHz.
There are two sets of frequencies being approved by the United States’ Federal Communications Commission (FCC). “Low-band 5G” and “Mid-band 5G” use frequencies from 600 MHz to 6 GHz, especially 3.5-4.2 GHz. Mid-Band waves will likely not affect existing wireless support hardware very much. Although there will be a need for boosters to avoid a lot of signal attenuation, mmWave will completely disrupt wireless technologies – requiring a whole new system of antennas, cabling, and amplifiers.
5G networks will be used with much smaller cell sites. Higher frequency radio waves are only capable of travelling short distances as compared to the lower frequency 4G LTE waves. Since the 5G signal can only be transmitted about the distance of a city block and cannot permeate buildings, there will be less need for large network towers and more need for small cell towers approximately every city block as well as within buildings. This also means that the speed on the individual networks will be greater than before.
An article written by professors from the University of Waterloo, Carleton and Ozyegin Universities explains that 5G networks could completely transform the current cellular architecture. They explain that for 5G to function with such a high demand for network bandwidth from IoT devices, the traditional cellular architecture may be divided into a two-tier architecture: 1) a macrocell layer, for base station-to-device communication, and 2) a device layer, for device-to-device (D2D) communication.
Industry Usage
Several telecom vendors in the U.S. have begun developing and testing 5G networks. Telecom providers like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint have all made strides in this field, with individual research projects underway to test the networks. Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile have all begun to deploy 5G in various markets and will continue to do so throughout 2019. Verizon has fixed and mobile 5G in a few areas. AT&T has mobile 5G for select businesses in select cities, as Sprint is deploying 5G to select areas. T-Mobile will launch commercial 5G in the second half of 2019 and is expecting to have nationwide coverage in 2020.
One of the uses of 5G is to help manage solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources by balancing out power consumption. Since 5G will enable the collection of data, this information can be collected and analyzed to determine power consumption peaks and valleys. This information can then be used to plan a more consistent and dependable power grid.
The fast speed of 5G networks and its inherent low latency will also enable remote surgery. This gives people in smaller communities’ access to surgeons and specialists that are normally only available in larger cities. The first successful remote surgery has already been completed in China. A 5G network adds the missing piece to the remote surgery puzzle. A remote surgery needs a patient, surgeon, robot, and a super-fast, stable internet connection.
What if self-driving cars could signal their intentions or broadcast their route to other self-driving cars? 5G could enable this to happen and it would help make the roads safer. It could also be possible for the rest of us to broadcast to nearby drivers where we are going. This could be done when we are using our phones to give us directions to our destination. The phone could also broadcast this info via 5G to nearby phones and self-driving cars.
Canadian Government Use
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) & the Management of Mobile Spectrum
The demand for digital applications and content continues to rise, both in Canada and around the world, which is the main driving force for the ushering in of 5G technology. Smartphones and other cellular devices, along with tablets, personal computing devices (i.e. Internet of Things, or IoT) and machine-to-machine connectivity, are increasingly pivotal in the daily lives of Canadians and Canadian business. As use of such devices grows, the compound growth rate of mobile data traffic has been calculated at 54% annually. As such, the creation of new or conversion of existing spectrum (or radio frequencies upon which mobile data travels) by national regulators is crucial in order to meet demand to prevent any negative economic consequences.
However, with 5G looming on the 2023 horizon, the year that most carriers in North American intend to have 5G launched on a large scale, even more spectrum will be required:
“New spectrum is critical for the success of fifth-generation (5G) terrestrial mobile service. Globally, there are significant on-going activities to identify suitable spectrum, including bands that can be used in as many countries as possible to enable global roaming and economies of scale. Various efforts around the world are underway to find harmonization around [the] spectrum to be used for 5G. The 5G services are expected to cover a wide range of applications.” 5G Americas
Public Safety & Concerns Regarding Espionage
While it is normally the responsibility of Canadian carriers, like Bell, Rogers, and Telus, to ensure the security of their networks, the GC has an obligation towards public safety, of which cybersecurity is a part. As of May 1, 2019, according to Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, the minister responsible for national security and Canada’s National Cyber Security Strategy, the security review over 5G including Huawei’s potential role is ongoing and a final decision is expected by Fall 2019. Regardless of this decision, ongoing efforts will be needed by both carriers as well as the GC in terms of network security, similar to how it is with current 4G LTE.
Other Investments & Initiatives
On March 19, 2018 the GC announced its investment in the 5G test corridor between Quebec and Ontario. The investment in ENCQOR represents a step in the adoption of the next generation of wireless technology. The GC is partnering with several private industry partners and demonstrates an important example of collaboration among all stakeholders. 5G will demand a huge infrastructure overhaul that must be accounted for.
CWTA has launched the 5G Canada Council to promote supportive collaboration as Canada establishes this new 5G ecosystem. The technology is still set to release by 2020. The GC will still need to address how it will support radio frequencies between 600 and 3500 MHz, which are required for 5G networks. This range of frequencies is crucial as 600 MHz is one of the highest frequencies still able to reach individuals in more rural and remote regions of the country.
Implications for Government Agencies
SSC will have an important role to play in ensuring that the GC departments have the tools, infrastructure, and architecture available when 5G launches on a large scale in the next few years. Thus, the rollout of 5G will have major implications for SSC.
Value Proposition
SSC has made considerable shifts in the modernization of the GC data centres, as well as the brokerage of cloud services in terms of data processing and storage. However, as technology evolves, edge computing will provide a complement to these two models. “By 2022, more than 50% of enterprise-generated data will be created and processed outside of the data centre or cloud” according to Gartner research. Edge computing is advancing as a solution to latency issues from one machine to another. 5G will help to improve bandwidth, and therefore latency issues in its own right, thus being able to support a greater density of edge and other devices. 5G will also help enable data to get to their end points (whether cloud or data center) faster for processing and storage.
Challenges
Lastly, the arrival of 5G may bring about occupational health & safety concerns from employees and citizens in general regarding radiation exposure from the increased number of antennas and towers in closer proximity to where people live and work. Even with current 4G technology and existing telecommunications equipment, there are some who believe that devices and their equipment pose a threat to human health. However, no research has currently shown a definitive risk. Health Canada has developed guidelines for safe human exposure to radiofrequency (RF) energy. 5G RF is well-below the high end safety range of 300 GHz.
Considerations
The largest impact 5G networks will have on SSC is in its datacenters. 5G promises to support higher network traffic at greater speeds with lower latency. It also means that applications will begin to be designed to use 5G networks. The shift to 5G will still require data centers to perform many of the same tasks except on a much larger scale. Datacenters will need to become decentralized and follow a two and/or three tier model to provide low latency processing at the edge of the network while maintaining a central data aggregation and coordination role. Datacenters will also require an increase in bandwidth, processing power and storage.
5G networks are considered not simply an evolution in technology, but a revolution. It has the potential to significantly alter the way data is transmitted, processed, and by whom (or what). It may be necessary for SSC to investigate the potential of enterprise 5G networks, as many large business enterprises have begun. Due to certain “mission critical” operations performed by various government departments, such as National Defence and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) amongst others, the development of private 5G networks may be necessary for the sharing of sensitive information or when public infrastructure and networks may not be reliable or deemed secure.
References
- ↑ Sega, Sashca, “What is 5G”, PCMag, 20 March 2018. What is 5G
- ↑ Segan, S., & Segan, S. (2019, January 07). 5G vs. 5G E vs. 5GHz: What's the Difference? 5G vs. 5G E vs. 5GHz: What's the Difference?
- ↑ Sega, Sashca, “What is 5G”, PCMag, 20 March 2018. What is 5G
- ↑ Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from cellular generations
- ↑ Rajiv, & Noman, S. (2018, December 14). Evolution of wireless technologies 1G to 5G in mobile communication. Retrieved from [1]
- ↑ Encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from cellular generations
- ↑ Rajiv, & Noman, S. (2018, December 14). Evolution of wireless technologies 1G to 5G in mobile communication. Retrieved from [2]
- ↑ Rajiv, & Noman, S. (2018, December 14). Evolution of wireless technologies 1G to 5G in mobile communication. Retrieved from [3]
- ↑ NA. (2008, 08 23). 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G - The Evolution of Wireless Generations. Retrieved from Support.Chinavision: https://support.chinavasion.com/index.php?/Knowledgebase/Article/View/284/42/1g-2g-3g-4g---the-evolution-of-wireless-generations
- ↑ Cheng, Roger "What is 5G? Here are the basics", cnet, 9 February 2018.https://www.cnet.com/how-to/5g-network-technology-here-are-the-basics/
- ↑ M. N. Tehrani, M. Uysal and H. Yanikomeroglu, "Device-to-device communication in 5G cellular networks: challenges, solutions, and future directions," in IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 52, no. 5, pp. 86-92, May http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6815897/
- ↑ Oliveira, Michael, “Canadian wireless providers mum as U.S. companies announce 5G launch dates”, The Canadian Press, April 2018. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-canadian-wireless-providers-mum-as-us-companies-announce-5g-launch/
- ↑ Pretz, Kathy, “5G: The Future of Communications Networks”, IEEE, 1 March 2017. http://theinstitute.ieee.org/technology-topics/communications/5g-the-future-of-communications-networks
- ↑ “5G spectrum guide – everything you need to know”, GSMA, 16 February 2018 https://www.gsma.com/spectrum/5g-spectrum-guide/
- ↑ Lavallee, Brian, “Data Centers to 5G: Bring It On!” Data Center Knowledge, 6 February 2018. http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/industry-perspectives/data-centers-5g-bring-it
- ↑ Williams, Kevin, “How 5G Will Usher In The Internet Of Power Delivery”, 21 June 2016 https://www.forbes.com/sites/huawei/2016/06/21/how-5g-internet-will-change-the-way-we-generate-and-consume-power/#62c0aa608031
- ↑ Cheng, Roger, “5G is finally starting to feel real”, 18 December 2018 https://www.cnet.com/news/5g-is-finally-starting-to-feel-real/
- ↑ Humphries, Matthew, “China Performs First 5G Remote Surgery”, 15 January 2019, https://www.pcmag.com/news/365992/china-performs-first-5g-remote-surgery
- ↑ Behar, Rose, “Everything you need to know about 5G in Canada”, 1 March 2019, https://mobilesyrup.com/2018/03/01/everything-you-need-to-know-about-5g-canada/
- ↑ CableFree “Introducing 5G Frequency Bands”https://www.cablefree.net/wirelesstechnology/4glte/5g-frequency-bands-lte/
- ↑ New York Intelligencer “5G is Going to Transform Smartphones – Eventually”, February 2019http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/02/5g-is-going-to-transform-smartphones-eventually.html
- ↑ ISED, Government of Canada, “Decision on Repurposing the 600 MHz Band”, August 2015https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf11049.html
- ↑ 5G Americas, “5G Spectrum Recommendations”, April 2017.
- ↑ ISED, Government of Canada, “Consultation on Releasing Millimetre Wave Spectrum to Support 5G”, June 2017.https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf11298.html
- ↑ Behar, Rose, “Here’s Why mmWave is Crucial to Canada’s 5G Future”, MobileSyrup, Oct 2017.https://mobilesyrup.com/2017/10/16/mmwave-spectrum-explainer/
- ↑ Bryan-Low, Cassell,Colin Packham, David Lague, Steve Stecklow & Jack Stubbs, Reuters, “Hobbling Huawei: Inside the U.S. war on China’s tech giant”, May 2019.https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/huawei-usa-campaign/
- ↑ Fife, Robert & Steven Chase, The Globe and Mail, “Goodale says decision on Huawei 5G network to come before election”, May 2019.https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-goodale-says-decision-on-huawei-to-come-before-election/
- ↑ Business Wire, “Ixia, a Keysight Business, Delivers Network Performance Monitoring and Visibility to Remote Sites and Edge Computing”, Feb 2019.https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ixia-keysight-business-delivers-network-161500291.html
- ↑ Nordrum, Amy, Kristen Clark and IEEE Spectrum Staff, “Everything You Need to Know About 5G”, Jan 2017.https://spectrum.ieee.org/video/telecom/wireless/everything-you-need-to-know-about-5g
- ↑ Health Canada, Government of Canada, “Limits of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Energy in the Frequency Range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz - Safety Code 6 (2015)”, 2015https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/consultations/limits-human-exposure-radiofrequency-electromagnetic-energy-frequency-range-3-300.html15