COMMUNICATION AND

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
(I)
T215A
5G Generation

5G is the fifth generation of wireless infrastructure. But customers and users will
find it as one of the fastest, most robust technologies human has ever seen. That
means faster downloads, a more efficient network and a massive impact on our daily
lives, work and play. The connectivity benefits of 5G will make different industries
more efficient and give customers access to more information faster than before.
Smart communities, industrial IoT, immersive learning will all rely on this
technology

"5G has the potential to join a very exclusive club―the handful of technologies
throughout history that transform industries across every sector of the economy ...
redefining work, elevating living standards, and having a profound and sustained
impact on our global economic growth." - Ronan Dunne, Executive Vice President and
Group President, Verizon Wireless.

Specification of 5G

Figure 1: 5G technology Requirements (https://www.gemalto.com/mobile/inspired/5G)

 Up to 10 Gbps data rate which is up to 100x improvement over 4G networks

  1-millisecond latency
 1000x bandwidth per unit area
 Up to 100x connected mobile phones and tablets per unit area compared to LTE
 Must be 99.999% available
 100% coverage across the area
 90% reduction in energy usage of network
 10 years battery life for low powered devices

5G will provide data transfer rates many times faster than its predecessors, massive
opportunities for reliability and connectivity. One way to compare is the difference
in terms of download speeds. Thanks to its greater data transfer and power, it will
enable even more technology and lead Internet of Things to be developed on a truly
massive scale. Latency will dramatically be lower compared on 4G and LTE, latency
could drop to just less than1 millisecond making lag times impossible to detect.

Applications of 5G

What will 5G be used for? A more appropriate statement or question might be,
“What could not this technology be used for?”. Complex information will be
freed to move at rapid speeds. Those ultra-fast speeds, combine with ultra-low
latency, will reach great effects on every sector of economy.

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) can work seamlessly. Industrial
robotics and machinery can be controlled remotely. Feature-length high quality
movies can be downloaded faster than you can inhale your next breath.

“By 2035, 5G will enable $12.3 trillion of global economic output and support 22
million jobs worldwide. Much of that growth will come from the digitization of
transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and other physical industries.”- Ronan
Dunne, Executive Vice President and Group President, Verizon Wireless.

In a 5G generation, entire supply chains can be reshaped. With its rapid speeds
and unparalleled response times, 5G will be the “secret ingredient” that will
make driverless cars, cloud-connected traffic system and other next generation
applications that depend on instantaneous response time with limitless
possibilities.
 Figure 2: 5G Features and Specifications (https://networks.nokia.com/5g/get-
ready)

Major challenges of 5G

Smart Spectrum Use

The first and most obvious consideration is spectrum. Ofcom has worked with its
continental partners to determine the bands that will be important to enable 5G:
700 Mhz, 3.8 Ghz and 27.5 Ghz. However, spectrum is limited and expensive that
mobile operators with spectrum ready will be needed by the industry. This means
that rather relying on the towers, the industry must look towards the small cells
installations as a solution. This requires collaboration and involving the
infrastructure providers even the asset owners.

Support for MIMO and Dark Fibre

The migration to 5G requires more increase in asset numbers. Standard MIMO uses
multiple antennas at source and destination of wireless signal for efficient
transmission and minimize errors in the network. For 5G to thrive, dark fibre and
MIMO will need to be available to the infrastructures even with their expensive
prices.

Fixed Wireless Access

5G will clearly create changes to industry and providers on how they manage, sell
and deliver services. Network will provide and offer different services via
different set of infrastructures. Take 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), can
provide enhanced service compared to fixed broadband technologies that will
result in new market entrants as well as providing different approach for players
by changing the market and allowing greater innovation.

References

 https://www.telecomstechnews.com/news/2018/jan/31/challenges-5g-and-how-
overcome-them-2018/https://www.metis2020.com 3
 https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/5g/what-5g
 https://www.gemalto.com/mobile/inspired/5G
 https://networks.nokia.com/5g/get-ready
 http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-the-internet-of-things-market-will-
grow-2014-10?r=US&IR=T

Numerical
A student at AOU is using an internet connection that downloads at 8Mbits/s to
download one of the T215A video lectures from the AOU LMS webpage. He found two
different files for the same video lecture. These files are entitled “Uncompressed
Video” and “Compressed Video” respectively.

a) The “Uncompressed Video” file size is 30 GBytes. How long would it take the
student to download this file? Express you answer in seconds and hours.

(30 000 X 8) = 30 000 seconds

8
30 000 = 500 minutes
 60
500 = 8.3 hours
60

b) It takes the student 150 minutes to download the “Compressed Video” file.
What is the size of this “Compressed Video” file? Express your answer in
bits and GBytes.

Let n = Size of the Compressed video

n( 8) = 150 minutes
8

n (8) = 150 (60)

8
n= 9 000 MB
9 000 000 000(8) = 72 000 000 000 Bits
The compressed video is 9 GB or 72 000 000 000 in Bits

c) What is the compression ratio that has been used to convert the “Uncompressed
Video” file to the “Compressed Video” file?

(Uncompressed Video : Compressed Video)

The compression ratio is 3 : 1