As 5G networks draw closer, everyone is increasingly looking forward to 5G. Before 5G officially arrives, it is still necessary to carefully understand the relevant knowledge of 5G. Today’s article will take you to truly understand the full picture of 5G technology.
1. What is 5G
5G is the fifth generation of cellular mobile communications (English: 5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems). The performance goals of 5G are high data rates, reduced delays, energy savings, cost reductions, increased system capacity and large-scale device connections.
The International Organization for Standardization 3GPP defines three major scenarios of 5G. Among them, eMBB refers to high-traffic mobile broadband services such as 3D/Ultra HD video, mMTC refers to large-scale Internet of Things services, and URLLC refers to services such as driverless driving and industrial automation that require low-latency and high-reliability connections.
It can be seen from the three major scenario definitions of 3GPP that 5G should not only have high speed, but also meet higher requirements such as low latency, although high speed is still an integral part of it. From 1G to 4G, the core of mobile communications is communication between people, and personal communication is the core business of mobile communications. However, 5G communication is not just human communication, but also the introduction of services such as the Internet of Things, industrial automation, and driverless driving. Communication begins to shift from communication between people to communication between people and things, and finally to communication between machines. Communication.
2. Basic characteristics of 5G
(1)High speed
As network speed increases, user experience and experience will be greatly improved. The network will be able to face VR/UHD services without restrictions. Only services that require high network speed can be widely promoted and used, which means that users can It can download a high-definition movie and may also support VR videos.
(2)Low power consumption
To support large-scale IoT applications, 5G must have power consumption requirements. In recent years, wearable products have developed to a certain extent, but they have encountered many bottlenecks. The biggest bottleneck is poor experience. Nowadays, all IoT products require communication and energy. Although communication can be achieved through various means, the supply of energy can only rely on batteries. If the communication process consumes a lot of energy, it will be difficult for IoT products to be widely accepted by users. If the power consumption can be reduced, the user experience will be greatly improved and the rapid popularization of IoT products will be promoted.
(3)Low latency
A new scenario for 5G is highly reliable connections for driverless and industrial automation. For information exchange between people, a delay of 140 milliseconds is acceptable, but if this delay is used for driverless driving and industrial automation, it will be difficult to meet the requirements. The minimum requirement for 5G latency is 1 millisecond, or even lower.
Self-driving cars require interconnection between the central control center and the car, and between cars. In high-speed operations, when a brake is applied, information needs to be sent to the car instantly for reaction, which takes about 100 milliseconds. In a short time, the car will rush dozens of meters, which requires information to be sent to the car in the shortest delay for braking and car control responses.
This is especially true for drones. For example, if hundreds of drones are flying in formation, very small deviations will lead to collisions and accidents, which requires information to be transmitted to the flying drones within a very small delay. In the process of industrial automation, if the operation of a robotic arm is to be extremely refined and ensure the high quality and accuracy of the work, it also requires a minimum delay and the most timely response. These characteristics are not so demanding in traditional human-to-human communication, or even human-to-machine communication, because human responses are slow and do not require the high efficiency and refinement of machines. Whether it is drones, driverless cars or industrial automation, they all operate at high speeds and need to ensure timely information transmission and timely response at high speeds, which places extremely high requirements on latency.
(4) Ubiquitous network
With the development of business, network services need to be all-encompassing and widespread. Only in this way can we support richer services and be used in complex scenarios. The ubiquitous network provides influence at two levels: broad coverage and deep coverage.
Extensive refers to the need for wide coverage in all places where we live in society. If 5G is covered, a large number of sensors can be deployed to monitor the environment, air quality, even landform changes, and earthquakes, which will be very valuable.
Depth refers to the fact that although the network has been deployed, higher quality in-depth coverage is needed. With the arrival of 5G, bathrooms, underground parking garages, etc. that previously had poor network quality can be widely covered with good 5G networks.
To a certain extent, ubiquitous network is more important than high speed. Just building a high-speed network with coverage in a few places cannot guarantee 5G services and experience. Ubiquitous network is a fundamental guarantee of 5G experience.
(5)Internet of Everything
In traditional communications, terminals are very limited. In the landline era, telephone calls were defined by groups of people. In the era of mobile phones, the number of terminals has exploded, and mobile phones are defined by personal applications. In the 5G era, terminals are not defined by people, because each person may have several terminals, and each family may have several terminals.
(6) Reconstruction security
What the traditional Internet needs to solve is information speed and barrier-free transmission. Freedom, openness, and sharing are the basic spirit of the Internet, but what is built on the basis of 5G is a smart Internet. The intelligent Internet is not only to realize information transmission, but also to establish a new mechanism and system for society and life. The basic spirit of the smart Internet is security, management, efficiency and convenience. In the construction of 5G network, security issues should be solved at the bottom layer. Security mechanisms should be added from the beginning of network construction. Information should be encrypted. The network should not be open. Special security mechanisms need to be established for special services. .
3. Three major application scenarios of 5G
The first is to enhance mobile broadband, whose peak rate will be more than 10 times that of the 4G network;
The second is massive machine communication, which will achieve full scene coverage from consumption to production, from people to things, that is, the “Internet of Everything”;
The third is ultra-high reliability and low-latency communication. The communication response speed will be reduced to the millisecond level. For example, the response speed of self-driving cars after detecting obstacles will be faster than human reaction, which will help self-driving cars move from the laboratory to the road. .
On December 10, 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued 5G system mid- and low-band test frequency licenses to the three major operators, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom. In 2019, 5G will enter the trial commercial stage. Although 5G is not mature enough in terms of technology and applications, I believe that 5G will eventually arrive as everyone expects!