Lots of recent news and hype about 5G but interesting trends are developing.  On the one hand companies such as Qualcomm continue to promote millimeter wave (mmW) bands including 28GHz and 39GHz for high-speed high capacity communications. Some of this is obviously fueled by their need to justify expensive new chips for new markets but the technology behind these innovations is still impressive.

QCOM recently announced a reference platform for a 28GHz mmW phone based on its X50 5G modem. A key enabling feature is a new millimeter wave antenna reputedly about the size of a dime. The company claims it can fit two of these antennas in a smartphone already and aims to shrink it by another 50 percent over the next twelve months. Pretty cool stuff.

For their part carriers are going along with this path, keen to impress as to their ability to solve looming capacity problems with new spectrum and high capacity radios. Recently Verizon, Qualcomm Technologies, and Novatel Wireless announced work on 5G New Radio (NR) millimeter wave field trials. Skeptics should note that this is based on the on the developing 5G NR spec, which is not set for full release until at least mid-2018.  The companies hope to “achieve multi-gigabit per second data rates with mobility at significantly lower latencies than today’s networks.”

Elsewhere on the network equipment front, key OEM supplier Ericsson is touting operator readiness for 5G, noting breathlessly that “Operators have begun to respond to the challenge with creativity by forging new strategies, investing in development and trials, and evaluating and adopting new use cases and business models”. Not sure what that all means but apparently 78% of them have reached the trial stage of pre-standard 5G technologies.

However, the to-do list for that yet to be released 5G NR specification is pretty daunting including the development of multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO), beamforming, network security, virtualization of network functions, network slicing, integrated RAN/backhaul, network automation, and mobile edge computing.

So, what is this 5G of which you speak Kirk?

While the actual definition of 5G clearly remains in flux, there are key objectives for the next generation radio standard which are generally accepted.

Enhanced Throughput | Minimum Throughput of 1 Gbps, with numbers as high as 10 Gbps being quoted by some.

Reduced latency | Reduction in the round-trip time for each packet to less than 10ms, with 1ms possible in some defined classes of service.

 Advances in management and OSS | Somewhat transparent to end users but generally more efficiency and reliability in the core networks with better analytics. 

Increased mobility | Very-high-speed user mobility, perhaps up to hundreds of kilometers per hour, supporting all modes of transport including airplanes.

Improved security | Self-Evident but may apply to Equifax.

New spectrum | Adoption of new millimeter-wave bands above 28GHz. MM-wave frequencies are more suited to small cells as the frequencies have limited ability to penetrate walls or travel very far but they are capable of very high capacity communications.

New enabling technologies | Everything with the word Massive in it and lots of three and four letter abbreviations. Basically better waveforms and modulation schemes but with lots of added complexity and more stringent component requirements.

Universal application support | Essentially 5G as the universal connective tissue for all IoT, connected cars and anything else you can think off, including 5G as a broadband and wireline replacement.

In short, 5G is the very wide-ranging set of hopes and expectations and given all of the requirements above, full implementation won’t be easy, quick, or inexpensive.  Other voices are perhaps a bit more sanguine and take a more practical approach. Back again to Qualcomm… “We’re on a path here for 5G, and also for gigabit LTE,” Dean Brenner, Qualcomm SVP for government affairs, told RCR Wireless News during Mobile World Congress Americas. “Those are the two mega technology trends that are in the wireless industry…and there are spectrum implications for both.” He went on to add.., “The key from a spectrum point of view is to make sure there’s low-, mid- and high-band spectrum available and available in a steady stream. The operators have the financial wherewithal to both acquire the spectrum and deploy it. Back to my two mega-trends–in terms of 5G, you will see spectrum that’s used both in the sub-6 GHz range and in the millimeter wave,”also noting T-Mobile’s 600 MHz deployments which the carrier says it will use to deliver nationwide 5G. Brenner adds, “They’ve deployed in places where TV stations don’t have to move off the spectrum. But, in many places around the country, there are TV stations on the spectrum. It will take them about 39 months to move off the spectrum. As that process plays out you will see the spectrum go into use. That matches up pretty nicely with 5G. We’re going to be enabling the launch of 5G in the 2019 timeframe.”

 

“Moving up,” Brenner said, “we have the 3.5 GHz band here in the United States, and it’s a key band around the world. You will see wide-scale deployments of 5G there.”

So Qualcomm, while not exactly immune from their own hyperbole, are at least practically minded. It would appear that 5G will be evolutionary, not revolutionary and will likely grow to encompass existing spectrum without necessarily replacing the existing 4G technology. Much will be under the hood as it were, improvements and enhancements to core functionality and the gradual moving of critical components to the edge where latency can be better controlled.

Behind the hype we see real innovation which will apply to existing spectrum and likely drive the capabilities of existing network equipment and phone in an incremental fashion. 4G will continue to be deployed and new spectrum bands added as they come available. Carrier Aggregation (more pipes into your phone from multiple sources) will add speed and capacity driving phone innovation in advance of any 5G technology. In fact, it is all likely to blend into one seamless wave of innovation.

The only question is who will be the first to call their evolving network “the World’s First 5G Network!” …and who will be the first to sue them for it?