Latin America. 5G Americas published its paper Global 5G: Implications of a Transformational Technology, a report by Rysavy Research and technology experts from 5G Americas. The paper explores the increasingly important role of wireless communications, the evolution of its technology, emerging services and use cases, and charts a timeline of future developments up to 2030.
"The transition to 5G is happening simultaneously with continued advances in 4G LTE," said Peter Rysavy, President of Rysavy Research and author of the report. "5G will transform the capacity of wireless networks because it facilitates extremely dense deployments, channels spectrum never before available for cellular systems, has the ability to use extremely wide radio channels, employs virtualization methods, and supports new ultra-reliable, low-latency applications."
5G is transformative for multiple platforms, technologies and use cases, including:
- Improved network capacity and transmission speed with maximum data rates up to 20 Gbps on downlinks and up to 10 Gbps on uplinks
- Network management of up to 1 million devices per square kilometer, improved device mobility of up to 500 kilometers per hour, more than 100 times greater energy efficiency over LTE, and 1 millisecond network latency times, enabling use cases such as cellular V2X and public safety communications
- The development of 5G is leading to new services and use cases for wireless customers
- Spectrum support for many frequencies, including spectrum bands above 6 GHz, availability of TDD and FDD modes for all bands, and use of licensed and unlicensed bands
According to Rysavy, "The capacity of wireless networks doubles every three years and is driven by progressive densification, access to new spectrum, and innovation that increases spectral efficiency."
More specifically, the paper considers how:
- spectrum will be a key ingredient that requires harmonizing spectrum assets, including low, medium and high bands, across national borders. Unlicensed spectrum and spectrum sharing techniques will complement the licensed millimeter wave bands that include 24 GHz, 28 GHz, as well as 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz.
- 5G will continue to evolve with new optimizations over the next decade; the 3GPP Release 15 standard (5G Phase 1) was completed in 2019; Release 16 (Phase 2) is ongoing; and Release 17 would be complete in 2021. Subsequent releases will make 5G even more powerful
- over time, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of small cells will increase capacity and provide a viable alternative to fixed broadband.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) will optimize the efficiency of 5G networks, make devices easier to use, enable new applications, and leverage a hybrid architecture of central cloud, edge clouds, and computing power of devices.
Chris Pearson, President of 5G Americas, commented: "We foresee potential next-generation developments through 2030, what is termed 'beyond 5G', which could result in theoretical maximum speeds of up to one Terabit per second (Tbps). The mobile wireless industry does not sit still and has historically demonstrated that innovative optimizations to improve mobile technology will continue to appear in the future."
The report takes a futuristic look until 2030 and considers the applications, radios and networks for 5G beyond 3GPP Release 17:
Applications: viable fixed broadband replacement for almost all users; with miniaturization of computers and AI, an overlapping layer of augmented reality will be created over the human experience; interaction with the device will be non-contact, based on communication with natural human voice or gestures; wearable-type devices will become ubiquitous, whether in watches, implanted in the body, or in the ears; Super high quality video, immersive tele-presence and 3D holographic communications
Radios: expansion of the use of the 5G borderline spectrum by 100 GHz to 400-7000 GHz or the terahertz frequency; free space optical communications; 1000 anticipated simultaneous antenna beams that together reach 10 Tbps of transmission rate; AI-based spectrum sharing approaches; wireless power transfer for extended or infinite battery life
Networking: ultra-densification with wireless self-backhaul; augmented non-terrestrial networks including low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, UAVs, and high-altitude platform stations; virtualization of all aspects of the network except the radio head using open interfaces; increased adoption by private cellular network companies; distributed computational intelligence with widespread adoption of edge computing; Cloud-to-edge AI; quantum computing.
For the full report, click here.
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