Technology Trends/5G Networks

Technology Trends / 5G Networks Tendances Technologiques / Reseaux 5G
Status	Published
Initial release	May 23, 2019
Latest version	May 23, 2019
Official publication	Blockchain.pdf
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5G Networksalso known as 5G NR (“new radio”), stands for 5th-Generation cellular wireless technology. In the mobile universe, a generation (a ‘G’) usually indicates a compatibility break – meaning that users will need new equipment. 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.

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Business Brief

1G – Analog Voice: introduced in the late 1970s, the first cellphones provided voice-only calls. Years later, some 1G cellphones occasionally provided wireless data service to a laptop by connecting them to the laptop's dial-up modem, but hookups were precarious, and when it worked, the data transfer rate was minuscule.

2G – Digital Networks: introduction of a new digital technology for wireless transmission also known as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). GSM technology became the base standard for further development in wireless standards. This standard was capable of supporting a data rate from 14.4kbps up to 64kbps (maximum), which is sufficient for SMS and email services. Data networks (GPRS, EDGE, IS-95B) were added and commonly called 2.5G and 2.75G technologies.

3G – High speed IP Data Networks: the third generation, features faster access to the Internet with downstream speeds up to 1 Mbps and more, depending on the 3G version. Third generation mobile communication started with the introduction of UMTS – Universal Mobile Terrestrial / Telecommunication Systems. After the introduction of 3G mobile communication systems, smart phones became popular across the globe. Specific applications were developed for smartphones, which handle multimedia chat, email, video calling, games, social media and healthcare. 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).

4G – Growth of Mobile Broadband: 4G systems are enhanced versions of 3G networks developed by IEEE, offerings higher data rate and capable to of handle handling more advanced multimedia services. LTE and LTE advanced wireless technology are used in 4th generation systems. Furthermore, it has compatibility with previous versions thus easier deployment and upgrade of LTE and LTE advanced networks are possible. It is basically the extension in the 3G technology with more bandwidth and services. One of the main ways in which 4G differed technologically from 3G was in its elimination of circuit switching, instead employing an all-IP network. Thus, 4G ushered in a treatment of voice calls just like any other type of streaming audio media, utilizing packet switching over internet, LAN or WAN networks via VoIP.

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.

. However, this poses risks for security. D2D communication requires more complex network security than what is currently available. Communication is possible through the use of device relaying; connected devices use one another to retransmit data, creating an ad hoc mesh network. In this way, the devices can communicate with one another in a licensed cellular bandwidth without the use of a base station (BS). This capability is a dramatic shift from conventional cellular architecture where cell phones connect to a cell tower.

Previously, D2D communication has only been used minimally. Recently, demand for this capability has grown as more context-aware applications come to market. These applications generally require both location services and the ability to communicate with other devices. Providing this capability through D2D would offer cost savings since not all devices on the network would need to be connected through the BS. D2D could also play a role in mobile cloud computing and enable more effective sharing of resources. If a device is at the edge of a cell site or in a crowded area, D2D could eliminate a significant resource burden on the BS.

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.

Sprint and T-Mobile have invested in lower-frequency 5G, which provides slower speeds in exchange for more range. This will allow them to provide 5G to less-dense areas more economically. Sprint has invested in mid-band, 2.5 GHz 5G, while T-Mobile is planning to use “low-band” 600 MHz 4G in addition to higher-frequency 5G in denser areas. In comparison, Verizon and AT&T will mostly be using much higher-frequency bands, such as the 28-GHz range.

In Canada, widespread availability of 5G won’t be until sometime in 2020. Although 5G has a potential of reaching speeds of 20Gbps, it will likely be around 6Gbps when it is first deployed. As with similar technologies, it will take up to 10 years for this new technology to reach full maturity.

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

Canada does not currently have a federal policy on blockchain. While blockchain is an important emerging technology, how it could be used by the Government remains to be seen. At this point, the ideal GC use case for blockchain would be a system of public record to register secure transactions from multiple contributors toward distributing a single source of truth in a non-refutable fashion.

According to Gartner, there is no Government around the world that is operating a true blockchain initiative , although some (State of Georgia, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirate) are operating pseudo-initiatives and starting to experiment with the technology. Treasury Board of Canada notes highlights a few specific initiatives: Estonia uses an eHealth Foundation partnership to accelerate blockchain-based systems to ensure security, transparency, and auditability of patient healthcare records. Singapore employs the use of blockchain to prevent traders from defrauding banks through a unique distributed ledger-based system focused on preventing invoice fraud.

In 2017, “The Blockchain Corridor: Building an Innovation Economy in the 2nd Era of the Internet” was developed, discussing ways to turn Canada into a global hub for the “Blockchain revolution.” Written by a high-tech think tank and prepared for / partially funded by the federal Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED), the report lays out a few proposals regarding how to cement Canada’s role as a world leader in blockchain technology. The Canadian Government announced in July 2017 the intention to run at least 6 select pilot projects on the use of blockchain.

This included establishing a digital economy commission, which will be tasked with developing solid recommendations regarding how Canada can become a leader in developing technologies such as blockchain, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and self-driving vehicles. It also recommended getting governments currently using blockchain to transform their own operations and provide examples of how the technology can benefit public sectors in Canada and abroad. Governments could use blockchain to verify the payment of taxes and manage public services more efficiently.

Implications for Government Agencies

Shared Services Canada (SSC)

Value Proposition

Collaborative technologies like blockchain promise the ability to improve the business processes that occur between organizations and entities, radically lowering the “cost of trust.” As a result, blockchain may offer significantly higher returns for each investment dollar spent than that of traditional internal investments, but in doing so means collaborating with customers, citizens, suppliers and competitors in new ways.

Blockchain offers a numbers of benefits to the Government of Canada, such as a reduction in costs and complexity, trusted record keeping and user-centric privacy control. It offers significant opportunities in terms of a single source for public records, support for multiple contributors and a technology ideal for multi-jurisdictional interactions. Due to its decentralized, collaborative nature, it potentially aligns well with policies and practices around Open Government, which aim to make Government services, data, and digital records more accessible to Canadians.

By eliminating the duplication and reducing the need for intermediaries, blockchain technology could be used by SSC to speed-up aspects of service delivery. A challenge for SSC in terms of blockchain will be to identify which enterprise solutions emerge as leaders and how they deal with privacy, confidentiality, auditability, performance and scalability.

Currently, a number of Government agencies are engaged in Blockchain in a number of ways. Maybe SSC could support the following departments in their initiatives to explore how Blockchain can help solve these issues:

• Elections Canada – practical applications to support Voter List Management, Secure Identity Management, and management of electoral geography.
• Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada – exploring implications for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing.
• Public Safety Canada – focused on various uses and misuses of virtual currencies, such as extortion or blackmail.
• Natural Resources Canada – use as a public registry for the disclosure of payments under the Extractive Sectors Transparency Measures Act.
• Bank of Canada – exploring a proof of concept model alongside Payments Canada, Canadian commercial banks and the R3 consortium.
• ISED – engagement with Government departments, provincial-territorial-municipal partners, and key industry players.

Challenges

There are weaknesses in terms of technological complexity, intensive computational and storage demands and a requirement for common software across all nodes. There are significant challenges particularly important within a governmental process. Truly digital assets with a single copy can be destroyed and a government network housing such assets would represent a very public target for malicious actors.

It is important to remember that Blockchain, while a technological innovation in transactional business and chain of digital custody, is not a single solution to transactional challenges facing the GC.

The amount of time and energy required to maintain the blockchain and create new blocks is not small and this is a frequent criticism of the technology. Conventional database entry, such as using SQL, takes only milliseconds, compared to blockchain, which takes several minutes. Due to the length of time required as well as the need for multiple computers to verify the blocks, blockchains consume an enormous amount of energy.

However, as technology advances, the blockchain consensus process takes closer to three minutes with Ethereum, which is currently among the most advanced blockchains available.xxiii Even older blockchains, such as Bitcoin, are still faster than traditional financial transactions, such as the stock exchange, which can take days to be verified and finalized. Despite this, services or transactions that require rapid speed, may not be suitable for blockchain.

There are also some concerns with respect to privacy. Since blockchain is built on the premise of decentralization and transparency, the data within the chain is technically available for anyone on the network, provided they have the computational power and knowledge to gain access. Instead of being identified on the network by name, users have encryption keys, which is a list of seemingly random numbers and letters.

While more private than a name or other demographic information, users could still be identified by their keys over time. Also, any data contained within a block that may have personal information that an individual wishes to keep private, such as medical records for example, may not be well suited for a blockchain as it will be transparent and visible to other users.

Considerations

By using an agreed upon consensus algorithm, collaborative technology like Blockchain promises the ability to improve the business processes that occur between organizations and entities, radically lowering the “cost of trust.” The cost of trust is lowered because there is only one record of a transaction that needs to be kept and all stakeholders trust that record.

In a traditional transaction, all stakeholders have to keep a record of the transaction and in the case of a discrepancy, it was more difficult / costly to determine the accuracy of a record. As a result, Blockchain may offer significantly higher returns for each investment dollar spent than that of traditional internal investments. However, to doing so, it means collaborating with customers, citizens, suppliers and competitors in new ways.

Further research is needed to understand the potential impacts that blockchain could have on SSC as a service provider as well on the usage amounts the GC would require. SSC should consider the identification of client areas where blockchain may be leveraged. It may be required that client departments self-identify spaces which could benefit from blockchain processes.

A challenge for SSC will be to identify which partner organizations and enterprise solutions require priority blockchain pilot projects as well as be able to identify departments that emerge as leaders and how they deal with privacy, confidentiality, auditability, performance and scalability.

Lastly, SSC and the GC should consider the capacity issues in resources, network capabilities, and time required to create and maintain blockchain networks on its own. Blockchain is not a pedestrian technology, it will require dedicated teams that are appropriately resourced and financed in order for the technology to be deployed as any other service. SSC may wish to consider looking for private sector companies that specialize in providing Blockchain as a Service (BaaS), and determine the risk and cost benefits of outsourcing this process altogether.

Hype Cycle

English	Français
Figure 1. Hype Cycle for Blockchain Technologies, 2018	Figure 1. Rapport Hype Cycle sur les technologies de la chaîne de blocs, 2018
Expectations	Attentes
Time	Temps
Blockchain Wallet Platform	Plate-forme de portefeuille de la chaîne de blocs
Blockchain Interoperability	Interopérabilité de la chaîne de blocs
Postquantum Blockchain	Chaîne de blocs post-quantique
Smart Contract Oracle	Oracle des contrats intelligents
Zero Knowledge Proofs	Preuve à divulgation nulle de connaissance
Distributed Storage in Blockchain	Stockage distribué dans la chaîne de blocs
Smart Contracts	Contrats intelligents
Blockchain for IAM	Chaîne de blocs pour la gestion des identités et de l’accès
Blockchain PaaS	Chaîne de blocs à titre de PaaS
Blockchain for Data Security	Chaîne de blocs pour la sécurité des données
Decentralized Applications	Applications décentralisées
Consensus Mechanisms	Mécanismes de consensus
Metacoin Platforms	Plates-formes de Metacoin
Sidechains/Channels	Chaînes latérales/canaux
Multiparty Computing	Calcul multipartite
Cryptocurrency Hardware Wallets	Portefeuilles matériels de cryptomonnaie
Cryptocurrency Software Wallets	Portefeuilles logiciels de cryptomonnaie
Blockchain	Chaîne de blocs
Distributed Ledgers	Grands livres distribués
Cryptocurrency Mining	Minage de cryptomonnaie
Innovation Trigger	Déclencheur d’innovation
Peak of Inflated Exepctations	Pic des attentes exagérées
Trough of Disillusionment	Gouffre des désillusions
Slope of Enlightenment	Pente de l’illumination
Plateau of Productivity	Plateau de productivité
As of July 2018	En date de juillet 2018
Plateau will be reached:	Le plateau sera atteint :
Less than 2 years	dans moins de 2 ans
2 to 5 years	dans 2 à 5 ans
5 to 10 years	dans 5 à 10 ans
More than 10 years	dans plus de 10 ans
Obsolete before plateau	Désuet avant le plateau
Source: Gartner (July 2018)	Source : Gartner (juillet 2018)

References