5g Technology: Transformative and Disruptive Innovation

Cellular wireless networks have come a long way since the first generation was introduced in 1981. Mobile connections have soared into the billions and approximately every 10 years, a new mobile generation comes along. Now new 5G technology enables consumers to leverage the benefits of this wide range of spectrum for faster and more reliable coverage. 5G networks facilitate and push the rapid increase of the internet of things and will bring great benefits to corporations and consumers.

Evolution Of Mobile Communications

The demand for wireless networks is ever growing and evolving. Cellular wireless networks have come a long way since the first 1G system, with a new mobile generation appearing approximately every 10 years. The first generation wireless networks, 1G, were based on analog protocols. The first phones, based on analog technology, were very large and with the speed of only 2.4 Kbps. The second generation, 2G, introduced in the early 1990s were based on digital standards. It was designed for voice and to improve coverage and capacity.

The third-gener-ation 3G networks were introduced to provide high-speed data transfer capability for downloading information from the internet and for sending videos. 3G systems were the first mobile broadband and provided a significant improvement in capability over 2G. 4G systems were based on IP protocols and were designed primarily for data.

The fourth generation 4G systems were able to provide a signif-icant improvement in data capability and speed over the 3G systems. The fifth generation 5G network, the successor of 4G long-term evolution (LTE), builds on the continuous wireless innovation. 5G systems are promised to be in the market by the end of 2019 and there are design innovations across diverse services. The key enhance-ments are landline placement and more advanced antenna technology.

Additionally, 5G systems provide enhanced mobile broadband, dynamic low latency, wider bandwidths, device-centric mobility, simultaneous redundant and reliable device-to-device links and shared spectrum.

Since the first 1G cellular wireless networks were introduced in 1981, mobile connections have soared into the billions. About every 10 years, a new mobile generation comes along (see Figure 1). According to Ericsson Mobility Report, 5G will achieve 1.5 billion subscribers by 2024, covering 40% of the world’s population. Another 2017 study conducted by IHS Markit found that potential global sales enablement of 5G will be $12.3 trillion in 2035.

5G enables consumers to leverage the benefits of this wide range of spectrum for faster and more reliable coverage and greatly increases the amount of spectrum available by combining the pros and cons of all different frequencies. It also allows for more bandwidth and much faster speed for consumers.

The existing 4G wireless networks do not have enough spectrum bandwidth and network capacity to meet growing market demands. According to a Cisco study, by 2022 wireless networks will increase in usage by a compounded annual growth rate of 46%. Speeds will reach peaks of 10 gigabits per second and deliver 1 Gbp at 500 km per hour.

Features Of 5g Networks

18 Industrial Management Project (3GPP) and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) planned for and laid the foundations for early 5G technology and rollouts. 5G is an evolving standard with major changes to data encoding and infra-structure. 5G networks combine more spectrums, allowing for more bandwidth and much faster speeds for consumers. The technology enables consumers to connect to and leverage the benefits of a wide range of spectrums.

The most commonly used 5G technology is mmWave. Carriers will also be using new spectrum in the sub-6GHz Wi-Fi region, low bands below 1GHz and existing 4G LTE bands. There currently is a signif-icant amount of unused high-frequency spectrum, and the higher the frequency, the more bandwidth is available.Wireless networks are composed of cell sites divided into sectors that send data through radio waves. Fourth-generation long-term evolution (LTE) wireless technology requires large, high-powered cell towers to radiate signals over long distances. 5G wireless signals, on the other hand, will be transmitted via large numbers of multiple small cell stations located on sites like light poles or building roofs.

The use of large number of small cells is necessary since 5G relies on a millimeter wave spectrum between 30 GHz and 300 GHz that can only travel over short distances and is subject to interference from weather and physical obstacles.The various technologies for expanding the networking spectrum bands can be thought of in three layers and are shown in Figure 2. 5G is using some key new technological innova-tions to greatly increase the amount of spectrum used to send and receive data compared to today’s 4G LTE networks.

These technologies allow for more bandwidth and much faster speeds for consumers. 5G development provides improved support of machine-to-machine communication, aiming at lower price, lower battery consumption and lower latency than 4G instrumen-tation. 5G communication networks can also provide hundreds of billions of connections, massive machine commu-nication and extreme mobile broadband. The features of 5G are shown in Figure 3.

Economic Contributions Of 5G Networks

A new study by Accenture revealed that the U.S. wireless industry is prepared to invest $275 billion to build next-gener-ation wireless networks over the next 10 years. The economic impact of this investment is huge; it will create more than 3 million jobs and will add $500 million to the economy. 5G networks enable service providers to build virtual networks tailored to applications requirements such as:

• Mobile broadband: communication, media and entertainment, and the Internet.
• Machine-to-machine: retail, shop-ping, manufacturing
• Reliable low latency: automobile, medical, smart cities
• Others: industr y specific services, energy, etc.

5G networks will focus communi-cation networks onto “things.” It will integrate mobile tech, big data, internet of things and cloud computing, and is expected to generate a variety of new applications, uses and business cases as the technology is rolled out.

5G will support smart devices, including self-driving cars, wearable, telemedicine and internet of things (IoT). Autonomous cars and IoT devices are expected to be major revenue drivers for 5G networks.The IoT is the concept of connecting any device with an on-off switch to the internet and/or to each other.

The term refers to devices that collect and transmit data via the internet. This includes everything from cellphones, wearable devices and industrial equipment such as car engines, jet engines, the drill of an oil rig, washing machines, coffee makers and more. The concept is based on a general rule that anything that can be connected will be connected; IoT could be considered as a giant network of connected people or “things.”

The connection is between things to things, people to things or people to people. Mobile broadband, cloud computing and smart terminals enable widespread connectivity, trans-forming the way we perceive the world around us. According to a Cisco estimate, devices connected to the Internet will be over 50 billion by 2020; that is up to seven connected things for every person on Earth.

IoT technology is maturing and continues to see tremendous innovation. There are several reasons for the tremendous growth of the concept: The increased availability of broadband internet, the decreasing cost of connecting to the Internet and the decreasing cost of bandwidth; over the past 10 years, the cost of bandwidth has declined by a factor of nearly 40 times.5G plays an important role in continued success and widespread applications of IoT and nearly every aspect of life where technology has entered the domestic space such as smart TVs, security cameras, dishwashers, thermostats and kitchen appliances.

The fast speeds provided by 5G will bring new technological advancements. The next generation of 5G will handle hundreds of billions of connections and will provide ultra-low latency of 1 millisecond and 10 Gbps transmission speeds. It also has the potential to provide more reliable service in rural areas, reducing the differences in service between rural and urban areas. Another area where 5G networking can be very helpful is “big data.” Data is flooding in at a rate never seen before, doubling every 18 months. The Interna-tional Data Corp. report predicted that there could be an increase of digital data by 40 times from 2012 to 2020.

Public customer data, proprietary, purchased sources and new data gathered from IoT enabled devices are generating what is broadly known as “big data.” The amount of data IoT devices might report back to a cloud server could easily overwhelm a relational database. Companies offering IoT-enabled devices need to be prepared to store, track, analyze and make sense of the vast amounts of data that will be generated. The real value that IoT creates is at the intersection of gathering data and leveraging it.

5G has the potential to keep up with consumer and enterprise data demands, while lowering carriers’ operating expenses.Figure 5 depicts 5G’s economic contri-butions, which include Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB). Today, more than 77% of Americans own a smartphone with access to the world’s information and near-limitless data resources. 5G technology is expected to greatly increase networks’ capacity and data speeds enabling network providers to meet growing demand for data-intensive services, like streaming digital video and other streaming media services, in urban areas.

In the past few years, technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) were introduced that will shape the next stages in IoT devel-opment and are driving demand for more coverage and capacity at reduced cost. AR enables IoT data in the form of text, graphs, images and videos to be viewed using smartphones, tablets or smart glasses.

Today most AR applica-tions serve consumer markets. In the near future, the technology will be used in enterprise markets when AR technol-ogies are paired with IoT and other application data. These technologies require high data rates across a wide coverage area. They are expected to consume even more bandwidth and sustained high capacity connections than today’s applica-tions. They will soon dominate social media, replacing text and image as the main information exchange media.

Today’s existing wireless networks do not have enough spectrum bandwidth and network capacity to meet growing consumer demands.

5G Economic Contributions

5G’s high bandwidth and low latency is essential for precise image processing, tracking and transmission in real time in the high-traffic areas. 5G networks will provide a fantastic mobile experience for consumers and enable them to access free-roaming immersive services on mobile devices.

Automotive industry and smart cars. According to a 2017 study by IH Markit, 5G networks will enable more than $2.4 trillion in total economic output in the automotive sector, including its supply chain and its customers. 5G economic impacts in this sector represent about 20% of the total global 5G economic impact. 5G networks enable the digital transformation of the automotive industry. According to the World Economic Forum, that transformation will generate $67 billion in value for that sector. Additionally, the digital transformation will generate $3.1 trillion in societal benefits that includes autonomous vehicle improvement and the transportation enterprise ecosystem.

Automakers are racing to improve the technology that will power self-driving cars. Smart cars consume a lot of bandwidth, require quicker responses from the network, and demand continuous connectivity to the network. 5G supports higher bandwidth and lower latencies, which enables smart cars to function efficiently.

5G technology improves mobile wireless networks’ capacity and data speeds, allowing network providers to offer much more robust internet connections to devices. 5G will play an important role in the proliferation of self-driving cars, which will produce enormous amounts of data. This technology makes intel-ligent driving safer and more efficient. As such, 5G networks will help enable autonomous urban ride services and most self-driving cars.

Additionally, 5G networks are capable of offering a wide variety of services to automakers, including media streaming services for passengers, navigation, traffic information, e-tolling, hazard and collision warnings, weather updates and cybersecurity services to monitor vehicles for intrusions. Smart grids. The smart grid is one example of the widespread application of IoT. In this application, each component.

Of the electric grid from transformers to power lines to home electric meters have sensors capable of two-way communi-cation. Using the smart grid, the electric company can manage distribution more efficiently, be proactive about mainte-nance and respond to outages faster.Smart grids integrate traditional power systems with information, communication and control technology to improve power grids’ stability, security and operating efficiency.

Power generation facilities are digitizing form, scale, power management and control to increase systems and operating efficiency. The communications systems for smart grids covers all nodes on the power system, including power gener-ation, transformation, transmission, distribution and usage. The new digitized power generation facility attempts to improve the efficiency of power systems by building a high capacity, high-speed, real-time, secure and stable communications networks. 5G greatly increases the amount of spectrum used to send and receive data. It can act as an integrator and support the diverse requirements of smart grids. 5G is more efficient and faster than fiber optic and short-range wireless communications technology, supports.

Over-the-air wireless connectivity and has excellent disaster recovery capabilities. Other advantages like ultra-high bandwidth, wide-area seamless coverage and roaming make 5G an ideal technology for smart and digital grids.In addition, 5G is a critical element in providing better networking in our technological world and important technology to build connected smart cities.

A smart city integrates infor-mation and communication technology and 5G networking solutions in a secure fashion to manage different functions, including schools, libraries, trans-portation systems, hospitals, power plants, water supply networks, waste management, law enforcement and other community services. To identify and respond to urban trends, we need a way of aggregating multiple layers of data, spanning traffic flows, human movement, individual transactions, shifts in energy usage, security activity and almost any major component of contemporary economies.

5G technology can facilitate this aggre-gation. The savings gained from smart cities is incredible. For example, smart water technology can save $12 billion annually. Sensors installed in individual vehicles can be linked to broader systems that help to manage traffic congestion across the city.Manufacturing sector and smart factory. Manufacturers are using product tracking mechanisms to ensure accuracy.

Parts can be individually tagged and tracked while on the production line. Parts received from the production plant can be tracked throughout assembly. Cameras installed along production lines measure the number of components in bins and an inventory management system automatically places supply orders to refill containers. Additionally, manufacturers use sensors to improve the performance of machines, to extend their lives and to learn how machines can be redesigned to be more efficient. Tags and sensors containing equipment specifications can be attached to enable easy upgrading.

Data captured from sensor devices are used to predict when equipment is wearing down or in need of repair. This could reduce maintenance costs by 40% and cut unplanned downtime by 50%. The manufacturing sector can find different ways to drive value out of 5G networking technology. 5G networks, services and its connectivity capabil-ities have the potential to transform production, business models and sales in ways that benefit manufacturing.

Advanced 5G networks and information processing technology can streamline smart factories, improve internal and external communications, and unify full product life cycle management on a single network.Mobile health. Today, there are 3.7 million medical devices connected to inform healthcare decisions. Allied Market Research predicts that the IoT healthcare market will reach $136.8 billion worldwide by 2021. The applica-tions of IoT in the healthcare industry are limitless. The concept is referred to as the internet of medical things or “IoMT.” It is the collection of medical devices equipped with Wi-Fi and applications connected to healthcare IT systems through online computer networks.

As hospitals struggle to lower operating costs and remain competitive, IoMT has the potential to reduce costs and improve a patient’s journey. Telemedicine, the ability of a doctor with a webcam to diagnose problems without an office visit, is becoming popular. This is very useful when patients live in remote areas or when they need specialized care.

Mobile health can improve efficiency and reduce costs in the areas of disease prevention, counseling, treatment and rehabilitation. 5G networks and services provide mobile health platform advantages such as integrated mobility and advanced connectivity so doctors and nurses can monitor patients anywhere, anytime. 5G technology enables patients to use wearable devices to transmit symptoms and status. Doctors can have access to patient information for remote monitoring and diagnosis.

IoT use will grow exponentially over the next few years as more devices become connected, opening new oppor-tunities for innovation with smart products. 5G networks facilitate and push the rapid increase of IoT and will bring great benefits to corporations and consumers. Digital transformation is starting to shift user experience away from text, image and video into immersive virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality.

Fifth generation cellular technology’s high speed, superior reliability, extreme bandwidth capacity and low latency is a perfect fit for this new shift. 5G networks and services will be deployed in stages over the next several years to accommodate the increasing reliance on mobile and internet-enabled devices. We are just starting the 5G commu-nications revolution with 2019 the beginning of a new era for mobile communications and the 5G world. The technology delivers new and enhanced mobile experiences previously not possible.

5G, built from a wide range of technologies, will continue to evolve as companies work toward its next phase, though it will take some time before the networks are fully rolled out and utilized. As 5G networks connection become more widely available, IoT-linked devices and sophisticated smart cities give birth to trillion-sensor economies, low latencies will soon allow vehicles to talk to each other and infrastructure systems to self-correct. In March at the Mobile World Congress 2019, leading smartphone companies planned to unveil the first wave of 5G mobile devices. In 2020, we hope to see the new devices, created by entrepreneurs and companies converge with freshly deployed 5G global communication.