5G technology is fifth generation cellular technology which promises to provide enhanced speed, coverage and responsive cellular network. It features limitless wireless transmission with incredible machine to machine communications.
Why do we need 5G technology?
5G technology offers greater speed and data rates would be higher than 1 gb per second thus offering higher broadband density to the users. It will offer stronger security, higher reliability and reduced latency rate as compared to 4G network. It will allow access to parallel multiple services with uninterrupted and consistent connectivity with deeper coverage. It will reduce the network energy usage by 90%.
Development on 5G technology:
The development on 5G technology had already started ten years ago. In 2008, NASA made partnership with Machine-to-Machine Intelligence (M2Mi) to develop 5G technology.
In 2012, New York University funded the project of NYU Wireless, which is a research center particularly designed to carry out the detailed work on 5G technology.
In 2012, the UK Government decided to set up 5G innovation center at University of Surrey. This was the world’s first research center which was set up specific for 5G technology research and development.
In 2016, Nokia and BT made partnership to create flexible 5G technology. The trials will focus on simultaneous streaming of data to any device.
Google is also secretly researching on 5G technology and super-fast wireless in a project named Skybender. This project aims to provide 5G connections via solar powered drones. According to reports, these drones could see millimeter wave technology which is used to transmit gigabits of data per second at 40 times faster than current 4G LTE technology.
Evolution of technology from 1G to 5G:
1- The First Generation (1G):
First of all it was launched in 1979 in Tokyo, then by 1984, it spread across whole of Japan. It was based on analog system and its speed was 2 – 4 kbps. It used analog system and was limited to one country only. It had poor voice quality with limited capacity. It was less secure and had very low level of spectrum efficiency.
2- The Second Generation (2G):
It was launched in Finland in 1991 on GSM standard for the first time. It was based on digital system and its speed was up to 64 kbps. It handled digital voice calls and SMS with more clarity. Because it was based on digital signals so it enabled services like text messages, picture messages and MMS. It was unable to transmit complex data like videos.
3- The Third Generation (3G):
3G was introduced in UK in 2003. But due to non-availability of 3G handsets, it was officially rolled out later. It offered the superior level of connection as compared to 2G. The transmission speed varied from 125 kbps to 2 Mbps. The customers were now able to use location-based services, watch live mobile TV and participate in video conferencing.
4- The Fourth Generation (4G):
It was introduced in 2012 in UK. Its speed was up to 12 Mbps and it was five times faster than 3G. it featured fast mobile access, gaming, HD videos and high quality video conferencing.
The advantages of 5G Technology:
1- It will support interactive voice, multimedia, streaming video, internet and other broadband services with more accurate bi-directional traffic statistics.
2- As 5G antennas will be smaller, it will support more IoT (Internet of Things) and smart devices.
3- It will help to cut costs and will be highly energy effective.
4- It will offer wide range of coverage, cheap network services rate and will consume less battery power.
5- 5G networks will enable secure access to cloud storage and enterprise applications with great processing power.
6- The user would be able to get and fast solution through remote management.
Applications of 5G Technology:
1- It will offer high speed internet, so it will revolutionize the mobile experience with super charged wireless network. It will support upto 20 Gbps of data download speed equivalent to fiber optic internet connection. It will use new radio millimeter waves for transmission. Its bandwidth will be much higher than lower LTE bands.
2- Another application will be internet of things (IoT). It will be used for development and will be using supercharged 5G wireless network. 5G will be most suitable for internet of things due to its flexibility, wide spectrum and low cost. Smart home concept will use 5G network for device connectivity and applications monitoring.
3- It will be used in logistic and shipping industry for goods tracking, fleet management and real time delivery tracking.
4- It will be used in future industries which will use smart wireless technologies like 5G for efficient automation of equipment.
5- It will be used in agriculture and smart farming in future. Farmers would be able to track location of livestock and their management.
6- Due to low latency, it will be used in autonomous driving and in critical applications. Self-driving cars are not far from reality with the use of 5G technology. The cars would communicate with smart traffic signs, surrounding objects and other vehicles on road.
When will be 5G technology rolling out?
5G technology is expected to be operational by 2020. It is going to change our life in better way and provide us unparalleled insights and abilities that will change our way of thinking. Many countries are making huge investments on 5G project as its demand will be very high in future. China is playing lead role.
However, there are many challenges which have to be overcomed before the successful launch of 5G technology in the market. It is huge task to build the infrastructure of 5G and there are also issues of spectrum and installing new 5G antennas.
