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Great Expectations: Can 5G deliver on its promises?
3 Min Read
The journey to a smart, connected future was never going to be simple. It involves multiple technologies and multiple stakeholders and requires consensus on international standards and protocols to enable delivery. However, the successful transition from 3G to 4G proved what could be achieved and raised stakeholder expectations about what might be possible with 5G.
5G is the fifth generation of cellular networks. Up to 100 times faster than 4G, its aim is to deliver faster connectivity speeds, ultra-low latency and greater bandwidth: transforming industries and dramatically enhancing day-to-day experiences. 5G is the means to deliver services that we used to see as futuristic, from e-health and autonomous vehicles to advanced mobile cloud gaming. In other words, 5G technology is the foundation for creating a smarter, safer and more sustainable world.
The development of 5G is being overseen by a global initiative called 3PGG, which is an amalgam of seven telecommunications standards organizations. Based on representations from multiple stakeholders, 3PGG develops the Technical Specifications and Technical Reports that will enable the development of the 5G network. Its remit includes Radio Access Networks (RAN), Services & Systems Aspects (SA) and Core Network & Terminals (CT).
Progress on 5G standards is measured by the milestones achieved within particular releases by 3GPP. New features are “functionality frozen” and are ready for implementation when a release is completed. 3GPP works on a number of releases in parallel, starting future work well in advance of the completion of the current release. The major focus for all 3GPP releases is to make the system backward and forward compatible where possible, to ensure that the operation of user equipment is uninterrupted.
The 5G Evolution Process
Release 17 was scoped in December 2019 and completed in June 2022. It marks the conclusion of the first phase of the 5G technology evolution and continues the work of previous releases to expand 5G into new devices, applications and deployments. These include:
Reduced capability (“RedCap” or “NR-Light”) devices: Release 17 allows 5G to efficiently support lower complexity IoT devices (e.g., sensors, wearables and video cameras) by scaling down wideband 5G NR design (i.e., 100 MHz bandwidth) to 20 MHz/100 MHz in sub-7/mmWave. It also reduces the number of receive antennas required at the device and enables further energy savings and coexistence with other 5G NR devices.
Non-terrestrial networks (NTN): Release 17 introduced 5G NR support for satellite communications in two distinct projects: one focusing on satellite backhaul communications for CPEs and direct low data rate services for handhelds, and a second project adapting eMTC/NB-IoT operation to satellite communications.
Sidelink expansion: Building on the previous 5G PC5 design from C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything), Release 17 adds new and enhanced sidelink capabilities, such as optimized resource allocation, power savings, and new frequency band support. It also expands sidelink to new use cases such as public safety, IoT and others.
Enhanced precise positioning: Release 17 further improves 5G positioning to meet more stringent use case requirements such as centimeter-level accuracy. Additional enhancements include positioning latency reduction, improved positioning efficiency for increased capacity, and better GNSS-assisted positioning performance.
Boundless XR (extended reality): the Release 17 project on XR focused on studying and characterizing various types of XR traffic (AR, VR, cloud gaming). The study defines requirements and evaluation methodology for the identified XR traffic types and provides performance evaluations used toward the identification of areas of improvement for a future Release 18 project.
To read the complete article, visit IoT World Today.
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