Mobile Connected Devices 5G is coming but will it get here in time?

Demand will far outstrip supply in terms of capacity and connectivity.

_{Volker Held, Qhead of 5G Market Development at Nokia}

In addition, 5G services will complement and largely outperform the current operational capabilities for wide-area systems, reaching high-performance indicators: such as guaranteed user data rate everywhere of 50 Mbps, aggregate service reliability of at least 99,999 percent, and the ability to serve over 7 billion people. Other benchmarks include:

• Mobility support at speeds ≥ 500 km/h for ground transportation
• Airplane connectivity – 80 per plane,60 airplanes per 18.000 sqkm
• Accuracy of outdoor terminal location of less than one meter

This makes clear that 5G is not just another generation of mobile networks; it represents a whole new network concept that will enable ubiquitous access for cooperative, cognitive, and heterogeneous wireless resources, with fixed optical access reaching at least the 10 Gbps range. In addition it will make possible new functions and functionalities that will allow simplified and unified control. There is a shared awareness among stakeholders that the development of new communication networks will depend on the emergence of globally accepted standards for interoperability, offering economies of scale with affordable cost for system deployers and end users. Standardization: work in progress In early 2012 the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) embarked on an ambitious program to develop “IMT (International Mobile Telecommunication) for 2020 and beyond”, setting the stage for 5G research activities that are currently underway around the world. Through its Working Party 5D, ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector has finalized its view of a timeline towards IMT-2020. The first 5G standard isn’t expected before the year 2020. The detailed investigation of the key elements of 5G are already well underway, once again utilizing the highly successful partnership ITU-R has with the mobile broadband industry and the wide range of stakeholders in the 5G community. In September 2015, ITU-R finalized its vision of the 5G mobile broadband connected society. This view of the horizon for the future of mobile technology will be instrumental in setting the agenda for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019, where deliberations on additional spectrum are taking place in support of the future growth of IMT.

The 5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership, in short 5G PPP, has been initiated by the EU Commission, vendors, telecommunications operators, service providers, SMEs and researchers. The 5G PPP will deliver solutions, architectures, technologies and standards for the ubiquitous next generation communication infrastructures of the coming decade. The challenge for the 5G PPP is to secure Europe’s leadership in the particular areas where Europe is strong or where there is potential for creating new markets such as smart cities, e-health, intelligent transport, education or entertainment & media. The Architecture Working Group of 5G PPP is working on a White Paper with focus on the design of the architecture for the 5G era, which should be available in June 2016.

The current vision is that in ten years from now, telecom and IT will be integrated towards a common very high capacity ubiquitous infrastructure, with converging capabilities for both fixed and mobile accesses. 5G PPP has defined 19 projects in Phase 1. The core project Euro-5G coordinates an effective and efficient cooperation and integration between all projects of the 5G PPP, the European Commission, the 5G-Infrastructure Association, Networld2020 ETP, related projects from EUREKA, and related national initiatives to maximize the European momentum towards, and benefits from, the future 5G integrated, ubiquitous and ultrahigh capacity networks.

As this illustration shows, a new mobile technology enters the markets about every ten years on average. If this cycle repeats itself, 5G should be ready by the year 2020. That is also the timeline of the various organizations involved in the development and standardization of 5G.

Following the growing demand for spectrum for mobile broadband services, the World Radio Conference 2015 (WRC-15) identified frequency bands in the L-band (1427 –1518 MHz) and in the lower part of the C-band (3.4 – 3.6 GHz). WRC-15 took a key decision that will provide enhanced capacity for mobile broadband in the 694 – 790 MHz frequency band in ITU Region-1 (Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia) and a globally harmonized solution for the implementation of the digital dividend. The final assignment of the 5G frequency spectrum is expected during the next WRC in 2019.

Software will manage Services

Software Defined Networking (SDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV), and Self Organizing Networks (SON) will be implemented thus employing software to manage services, hardware and infrastructure in an orchestrated and automated manner. Smart antennas with MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) and beam forming will ensure efficient usage of the available frequency spectrum. Small cells will help to increase the capacity. A completely new feature called “Network Slicing” allows operators to define a collection of 5G network functions and specific radio access technologies (RAT) settings that are combined together for the specific use case or business model. Thus, a 5G slice can span all domains of the network: software modules running on cloud nodes, specific configurations of the transport network supporting flexible location of functions, a dedicated radio configuration or even a specific RAT, as well as configuration of the 5G device. With the present hype around 5G businesses should not lose sight of what’s possible with existing and advanced 4G networks. LTE advanced (LTE-A) will address specific applications such as e-health, IoT, and autonomous vehicles by meeting the special requirements such as low latency and high speeds. That means you can already design your 5G services today by using LTE-A features and migrate step-by-step to 5G when available..

At CeBit 2016: Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fettweis (center), Vodafone Chair Mobile communications Systems TU Dresden and Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter (right), CEO Vodafone Germany demonstrated the real-time capability of 5G with an artificial hand capable of remote control ling operations in contaminated areas. such as nuclear reactors.