5G

 

 5G is the fifth generation of cellular mobile communications. It succeeds the 4G (LTE/WiMax), 3G (UMTS) and 2G (GSM) systems. 5G performance targets high data rate, reduced latency, energy saving, cost reduction, higher system capacity, and massive device connectivity. The first phase of 5G specifications in Release-15 will be completed by March 2019, to accommodate the early commercial deployment. The second phase in Release-16 is due completed by March 2020, for submission to the ITU as a candidate of IMT-2020 technology.^[1]

The ITU IMT-2020 specification demand for speeds up to 20 gigabits per second, achievable with millimeter waves of 15 gigahertz and higher frequency.^{[citation needed]} 3GPP is going to submit 5G NR (New Radio) as its 5G communication standard proposal. 5G New Radio can include lower frequencies, from 600 MHz to 6 GHz. However, the speeds in these lower frequencies are only slightly higher than new 4G systems, estimated at 15% to 50% faster.^[2]

Capability	Description	5G target	Usage scenario
Peak data rate	Maximum achievable data rate	20 Gbit/s	eMBB
User experienced data rate	Achievable data rate across the coverage area	1 Gbit/s	eMBB
Latency	Radio network contribution to packet travel time	1 ms	URLLC
Mobility	Maximum speed for handoff and QoS requirements	500 km/h	eMBB/URLLC
Connection density	Total number of devices per unit area	106/km2	MMTC
Energy efficiency	Data sent/received per unit energy consumption (by device or network)	Equal to 4G	eMBB
Spectrum efficiency	Throughput per unit wireless bandwidth and per network cell	3–4x 4G	eMBB
							Speed 5G promises superior speeds in most conditions to the 4G network. Qualcomm presented a simulation at Mobile World Congress[5][6][7] that predicts 490 Mbit/s median speeds for 3.5 GHz 5G Massive MIMO and 1.4 Gbit/s median speed for 28 GHz mmWave.[8] 5G NR speed in sub-6 GHz bands can be slightly higher than the 4G with a similar amount of spectrum and antennas,[9][10] though some 3GPP 5G networks will be slower than some advanced 4G networks, such as T-Mobile's LTE/LAA network, which achieves 500+ Mbit/s in Manhattan.[11] The 5G specification allows LAA (License Assisted Access) as well but it has not yet been demonstrated. Adding LAA to an existing 4G configuration can add hundreds of megabits per second to the speed, but this is an extension of 4G, not a new part of the 5G standard.[11]