5G wireless needs fiber, and lots of it

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The launching of 5G created the expectation of exponentially faster download and upload speeds and less latency, or the time it takes devices to communicate with wireless networks. This next generation of mobile broadband will ultimately replace, or augment 4G LTE connections.

One of the differences between 4G LTE and 5G is spectrum since 5G operates on three different spectrum bands which will have a dramatic effect on everyday use. Low-band spectrum can also be described as sub 1GHz spectrum and while it offers great coverage area and wall penetration, peak data speeds will top out around 100Mbps. Although mid-band spectrum provides faster speeds and lower latency than low-band, it fails to penetrate buildings as effectively as low-band spectrum. Peak speeds on mid-band spectrum ranges can be expected to be up to 1Gbps.

5G is the first wireless standard to take advantage of the millimetre wave spectrum (often referred to as mmWave), or high-band spectrum which delivers the highest performance. The millimetre wave spectrum operates above the 24 GHz band and has superfast data transmission and low latency. The main disadvantage of high-band is that it has a low coverage area and building penetration is poor. However, the shift to 5G will undoubtedly change the way we interact with technology on a day-to-day basis, but it’s also an absolute necessity if we want to continue using mobile broadband.

The Internet of Things (IoT) will be powered by communications among sensors and smart devices with 5G speeds and low latencies. The ‘full’ 5G System includes: eMBB (enhanced Mobile Broadband) URLLC (Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications) and mMTC (massive Machine Type Communications). mMTC devices require fewer resources compared to current smart devices on the market.

All things considered, 5G mobile networks will hugely affect both the wireless and the wireline side of the global network infrastructure. What is more, 5G’s formidable network performance goals are heavily grounded in the availability of fibre to cell sites as airborne bits jump to and from terrestrial wireline networks.

2G and 3G mobile networks often used copper-based Time Division multiplexing (TDM) circuits to connect cell sites to a nearby Mobile Switching Centre over the Mobile Backhaul (MBH) network. MBH upgrades are taking place all over the world converting legacy copper-based MBH serving cell sites to packet-based transport over fibre, which enables far higher capacities to best future-proof MBH networks. The increased adoption of 4G LTE and LTE-Advanced mobile network technology is accelerating these MBH fibre upgrades, which can and will be leveraged by future 5G networks, given the almost unlimited bandwidth that fibre-based networks offer.

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are adopting small cells with strategically placed radios closer to users to improve the coverage, capacity, and overall Quality of Experience (QoE) of mobile users. Small cells are backhauled over copper, air (microwave, millimetre waves (mmWave) or fibre. Based on economic, environmental, regulatory, and time-to-market criteria specific to the target geographic location and application, all three media options are being used today. However, fibre-based small cell MBH is always the preferred option, because it is scalable, secure, understood, often the most cost-effective. 

It is imperative to lay fibre to small and macro cells if these cell sites are to be upgraded to 5G in the coming years. Copper and air-based MBH options cannot scale to the immense amount of backhaul traffic that will be generated by a 5G RAN. 5G is intended as an overlay to existing 3G/4G mobile networks, meaning that for existing cells that need not be upgraded to 5G in the future, using air and copper-based backhaul options are viable options.

Principally all metro, regional, long haul, and submarine networks are fibre-based which means that they can easily scale to the big Downlink Control Information (DCI) growth by capitalising on the latest in optical transmission technologies. The access network, which includes the RAN, is the one part of the global network infrastructure that still has a significant amount of copper and wireless (microwave/millimeter wave), which will be a problem for 5G deployments, due to the promised speeds of this new technology. 

Areas identified for 5G coverage will require loads of fibre to be successful for capacity reasons and the other rather daunting 5G performance goals. These goals include network diversity, availability, and coverage, enabled through a greater number of interconnected paths of fibre. The irony is that the projected performance goals of 5G wireless will depend on the availability of wireline fibre.

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Sourced from: BitCo. View the original article here.

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