Switching to pure 5G architecture is no longer a question of if, but when and how
Switching to pure 5G architecture is no longer a question of if, but when and how
Since the advent of mobile communications in the early 1980s, companies and consumers have been adapting to new ways of sending and receiving information. The first generation of technology in this era allowed people to make and receive calls from their mobile handheld devices, while the second and third generations added text and multimedia messaging and e-mail services to the phone. The advent of 4G early in the past decade changed the mobile phone landscape. This paradigm shift enables users to stream and download video three times faster than 3G. The generation based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard has two important characteristics that differentiate it from its predecessors.
4G multiplexing
With 4G-enabled phones, people can make calls over the Internet instead of the phone network. This generation has evolved to 4G+ (LTE Advanced), offering download speeds of 200 to 300 Mbps, making it easier for people to connect and talk over the Internet.
Second, the multiplexing capability of 4G, technically known as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), provides a certain level of efficiency by allowing multiple users to share a common channel while achieving high data rates. The OFDM modulation scheme divides a channel into several subcarriers. These sub-carriers are orthogonally spaced so that they do not interfere with each other although there is no guard band between them. “OFDM is a very good choice for the air interface for mobile TV. According to the research paper titled “Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing and Its Applications”, it provides good spectral efficiency, immunity to multipath, good mobile performance , and works well on single-band networks such as those planned for mobile TV. It’s this aspect of 4G that allows people to use social media, download music in apps, and live video on mobile devices.
Gadgets are rich
Since the introduction of 4G in the early 2010s, the number of smartphone users has grown significantly. The total number of smartphone users worldwide has nearly doubled over the past seven years, from 3.7 billion in 2016 to 6.6 billion in 2022, according to data intelligence firm Statista. By 2027, this number is expected to increase by another billion.
Not only users, but the number of mobile devices in use has skyrocketed. The total number of mobile phones and tablets in use is expected to exceed 18.2 billion, according to technology market research firm Radicati. When people add billions more wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to this mix, the result is a world of data-intensive gadgets. As the number of connected devices increases, so does our reliance on them to perform everyday tasks.
The number of devices and things connected to the internet is not limited to the consumer world. Businesses are also turning to digital channels and optimizing how tasks are done with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), predictive maintenance and other sensors for monitoring environmental conditions. In order for these devices to work in sync with several other applications, very good network and connectivity are required, and the decade-old generation based on LTE is ill-prepared to handle workloads and real-time data processing of this scale.
Deploy 5G
The latest iteration of mobile connectivity offers low latency, faster download speeds, and the ability to connect multiple devices and exchange data in real-time. Building on its predecessor’s multiplexing technology, 5G introduces a new standard called 5G New Radio (NR), which uses the best features of LTE. 5G NR will enable more energy savings and enhanced connectivity for connected devices. In addition to this, fifth-generation mobile communications will use high-frequency millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequency bands operating at wavelengths between 30 GHz and 300 GHz. In contrast, LTE for 4G operates on wavelengths below 6 GHz.
While 5G has been around since the late 2010s, it wasn’t until the mid-2020s that it reached the kind of ubiquity enjoyed by its predecessors. That’s because there are fewer 5G-compatible devices on the market than 4G, and delayed auctions and rollouts of 5G airwaves are preventing people from using the service.
The connected future based on 5G is coming. This means deploying services based on the latest generation in a world full of 4G-compatible devices. Therefore, telecom operators and enterprises looking to build services on 5G have two options. They can build non-standalone (NSA) or standalone architectures.
In the NSA framework, operators can leverage their existing installed capacity and LTE architecture to deploy 5G services while implementing a new radio access network (RAN). LTE’s existing Evolved Packet Core (EPC) will support operation in the core network. This short- to medium-term strategy can help operators reduce capital expenditures and lower operational costs that may arise from installing a new core network.
For example, Germany launched 5G services in 2019 using the NSA model. Using its LTE-based core, Deutsche Telekom offers services that are not as fast as pure 5G, but achieve the goal of providing extensive coverage in large countries. The proportion of the population is also time-limited. The national operator has now started testing the 5G SA architecture in selected environments.
Standalone model
Instead, the SA model is a pure 5G architecture that provides operators with the full range of fifth-generation capabilities and lets them slice the network. In this architecture, the RAN and the core are completely new, and different network functions will be clearly separated, in line with 3GPP recommendations.
US-based Dish Network Corporation deployed a standalone 5G network in 2021. The cloud-native company is said to be building an Open RAN-based network from the ground up and wants to run its services on the public cloud. In India, Chinese handset maker Oppo conducted a 5G network trial on one of its high-end smartphones in July 2021 at its 5G lab in Hyderabad under the SA network environment provided by Reliance Jio. Reliance Industries Ltd. plans to expand its 5G network to “every town” in India by the end of 2023, according to Mukesh Ambani, the company’s chairman and managing director. The company plans to implement a 5G SA architecture to provide better performance than NSA-based setups.
Different countries and companies are at different stages of 5G deployment. Switching to a pure 5G SA architecture is no longer a question of if, but when and how. Telecom operators will drive 5G deployments towards a standalone future in the coming years. This will simplify their network operations and improve the user experience. Operators may also want to take advantage of network slicing opportunities by creating dedicated segments for specific users and use cases. Each segment can provide an opportunity for operators to build revenue streams. Much like how the era of mobile-based communications 40 years ago adapted people to new technologies, 5G could enable consumers to connect and exchange information in a new way.
Astor
Since the introduction of 4G in the early 2010s, the number of smartphone users has grown significantly. According to Statista, the total number of smartphone users worldwide has nearly doubled from 3.7 billion in 2016 to 6.6 billion in 2022.
The connected future based on 5G is coming. That means deploying services in a world full of 4G-compatible devices. Therefore, telecom operators have two options. They can build non-standalone (NSA) or standalone architectures.
In the NSA framework, operators can leverage their existing installed capacity and LTE architecture to deploy 5G services while implementing a new radio access network (RAN). Instead, the SA model is a pure 5G architecture that provides operators with a full range of fifth-generation capabilities and lets them slice the network. In this architecture, the RAN and core are completely new.