5G

Context

Key points

• Service providers have been conducting 5G trials and 5 G-ready phones have been flooding the market.
• Radio electronics refers to a broad range of technologies that can transmit, receive and process wireless signals.
• These technologies can utilise electromagnetic spectrum that goes all the way up to 300 GHz, the lower frequencies of this spectrum are particularly attractive.
• Lower frequency signals can travel longer distances and penetrate obstacles with lesser attenuation.
• Electronic components (amplifiers, transmitters, receivers) operating at lower frequencies are also easier to design and manufacture.
• Consequently, much of the bandwidth in the lower frequencies of this spectrum has already been allocated for several applications(mobile communications currently use the spectrum from 800 MHz to 2.5 GHz).

New spectrum for 3GHz

• With the increasing demand for mobile services, the currently allocated spectrum is proving inadequate.
• At the simplest level, 5G represents the allocation of a new spectrum to increase capacity.
• Since most of the spectrum at lower frequencies is already being utilised much of this new spectrum is being allocated at higher frequencies.
• The first deployments in India will be around 3GHz but will expand to 25 GHz and beyond.
• As 5G services evolve to occupy higher frequencies, it will significantly increase the bandwidth available for mobile services.
• At these frequencies, the design of the transmitting and receiving equipment becomes more complex.
• Signal attenuation also increases. So, the coverage area of each cell tower will decrease which will require the towers to be more closely spaced.
• The physics of signal transmission is that at higher frequencies it becomes easier to direct a signal in a specific direction.
• The signals transmitted from a cell tower can be more precisely directed at a specific user.
• This enhanced directivity results in less interference between signals meant for different users which directly translates to increased capacity.
• While operating at higher frequencies has some fundamental challenges, it offers some unique opportunities as well.

Evolving communication needs

• The 5G infrastructure is being built from the ground up, there is a chance to redesign the technology to make it more suitable for the evolving communication needs of the future.
• 5G places special emphasis on low latency, energy efficiency and standardisation.
• Existing wireless communication infrastructure is primarily designed around the needs of mobile phones.
• Several emerging applications in factory automation, gaming and remote healthcare have more stringent latency requirements. The self-driving car is an illustrative example.
• Low delays between transmission and reception of messages are extremely critical when these cars have to co-operate with each other to avoid accidents.
• To ensure that there is not a corresponding increase in energy usage, 5G places a lot of importance on energy efficiency and longer battery life for mobile devices.
• Today most of the components that make up wireless telecom interact with each other using vendor-specific, proprietary protocols.
• To enable the rapid deployment of 5G infrastructure there is an industry-wide effort to standardise interaction between components.
• Greater standardisation would enable service providers to build their infrastructure, Mixing and matching components from multiple vendors.
• Switching vendors would also be easier which would foster competition and lower costs.

Advanced R & D

• Positioning, Sensing and Communication technologies involve the transmission and reception of radio signals. 
• Hence it is possible for positioning and sense on the back of 5G infrastructure that is primarily meant for communication.
• Traditionally, Positioning, Sensing and Communication have been seen as technologies.
• 5G is expected to significantly improve the state of the art.
• It turns out that some of the key features of 5G such as increased bandwidth availability and antenna directionality are useful for improved accuracy of positioning and sensing.
• There is also a lot of research around cost and energy-efficient electronic devices that can transmit and receive high-frequency signals.
• This involves delving into the fundamental physics of semiconductor technologies and is expected to lay the foundation for the growth of wireless technology into higher frequency bands.
• Engineers are already busy prototyping a 6G system which would utilise the large amounts of available spectrum at frequencies above 1oo GHz.

5G Spectrum Auction-TRAI