Overview
5G technology is another step forward in wireless network, and the main theme of 5G is speed. So in this article, we will see…
But before we begin, In case you don’t know about frequencies keep in mind one characteristic of frequencies while reading this article:
- Higher the frequencies, the higher the data carry rate and lower the range.
- Lower the frequencies, lower the data carry rate, and higher the range.
Types of 5G
5G comes in three different variants, Low-band, Mid-band and High-band.
1. Low-band 5G:
It uses lower frequencies, ranging from 600MHz – 900MHz, and provides speed up to 225Mbps.
We can say this is the lowest version of 5G with lower speed but provides much more consistent network signals than the other two.
2. Mid-band 5G:
This is kind of a sweet spot between lower-band and higher-band 5G, with mediocre speed and network signal.
It uses a frequency range from 2.5GHz – 3.5GHz and 3.7GHz – 4.2GHz, and provides speed around 600-700 Mbps.
3. High-band 5G:
This is a very interesting one because this is the most advanced and hyped version of 5G, so we will discuss this in detail.
Detail of implementation of one of the 5G types :
High-Band 5G technology uses millimeter waves with frequencies from 24GHz to 96GHz. Some tests in the US have shown that it offers speed up to 2Gbps and some modem companies claims in the future its speed can go up to 10Gbps, but the catch is because it uses those high-frequency waves it can not travel well in the real world, it only travels in the direct line of sight and objects like trees and buildings may block the signals. Even rain may disrupt the signals. So basically it is very inconsistent.
To overcome its inconsistency high-band 5G uses some technologies
- Small nodesInstead of one base station(Tower) covering long distances, in 5G there will be a lot of 5G nodes / mini base-stations all over the place which will be connected to the base station, so when you move from one place over another you actively switch between these nodes.
This technology can’t solve its problem of inconsistency by 100%, but at least it can improve. - Massive MIMO
The base stations of 4G networks can have a dozen ports for antennas that handle all cellular traffic, but massive mimo can have hundreds of ports, so the more users can be served.
But the problem with massive mimos is, today’s antenna broadcast signals in every direction at once, and all of those signals can interfere with each other. And the solution to this problem is Beamforming.
- Beamforming
Instead of transmitting signals in all the directions at once, it allows base-station to send a focus stream of data to specific users, this prevents interference. - Full duplex
If we use the same frequency for both send or receive data, cellular base stations can either send or receive signals at a time.So if data sent from two different ends at the same time, then the result will be data loss.
So until now the solution is to take turns for sending and receiving data or use different frequencies to send and receive.But these things can be improved using reciprocity. We can use silicon transistors to create high-speed switches that work as traffic circles for the frequency.
Future with 5G
These are some of the areas which will be affected by 5G.
- IOT:
With the 5G technology will expand drastically, because IOT devices need to send and receive huge amounts of data and 5G can be the foundation for IOT. Self-driving cars: Self-driving cars are available now, taxi companies like Yandex and Waymo have shown fully autonomous self-driving cars. And with 5G those cars could be improved and deployed on a large scale. Smart homes and cities: with high speed internet we can collect more data with new sensors and these new sensors and current electronic devices can communicate with each other seamlessly and electronic devices can take actions accordingly. For example based on the location of your car or your smartphone air conditioner could be turned on and off automatically so your preferred temperature could be maintained before you reach your home. - Gaming :
Cloud gaming: Today we have some cloud gaming services like google’s stadia and sony’s playstation-now but those are not mature yet with current 4G and LTE but 5G in gaming can provide low latency and speed which they needed. VR games: With the very high-speed internet we might play games like PUBG and Fortnight with VR. - Internet experience:
5G will change your internet usage experience completely, imagine the downloading time of games like PUBG will be lesser than its installation time or no buffering in streaming services apps. - Unknown services:
4G has boosted many services like online streaming services, likewise, 5G technology will also boost some current services and will also bring many services which we don’t know yet. So the future with High-band 5G seems pretty bright, if the infrastructure of High-band 5G will happen then it might affect our lives drastically, but with the current implementation of 5G with those 5G nodes it is very expensive and seems very far from now because it will take lot of money and time to cover entire city or entire country with those 5G nodes.
Hope you enjoyed the article.
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