Tag: 4G

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Private 5G: Build your own 5G network

5G networks can boost wireless connection speeds by a factor of 10 and may replace wired broadband. Here we explain the benefits of building a Private 5G Network:

What is 5G?

5Gradio : CableFree 5G SA
5G Wireless Network

5G wireless is an umbrella term to describe a set of standards and technologies for a radically faster wireless internet that ideally is up to 20 times faster with 120 times less latency than 4G, setting the stage for IoT networking advances and support for new high-bandwidth applications.

5G and 4G are marketing words used to describe the standards set by the 3GPP for mobile wireless communications technology

Building Private 5G Networks: What is involved ?

Private 5G Network

Originally, 5G was designed for large-scale carrier networks to cover entire countries.  More recently, two factors have enabled the rise of Private 5G networks:  firstly, a range of compact, stand-alone and designed-for-purpose 5G systems, and secondly, the availability of easy-access spectrum including the unlicensed 5GHz band – are now available to enable organisations to implement wireless networks for mission-critical automation and mobility applications.

Private 5G solutions make it possible for private organizations to deploy and operate high-performance, on-premises private wireless networks, without requiring access to licensed spectrum, yet still benefit from the performance and global ecosystem of 5G technology. This is attractive across a wide range of enterprise applications, particularly where in-house control, mission-critical reliability, multi-service capability, mobility and security are needed.

What is Private 5G?

CableFree Baseband Unit (BBU) for Private 5G
CableFree Baseband Unit (BBU) for Private 5G

Globally, most 5G networks  are public – serving both public or enterprise subscribers from operator-owned networks. A 5G network is considered to be private when its main purpose is to connect people/things belonging to an enterprise (normally across a campus or site), and where data needs to be kept totally secure by avoiding transmitting it through the core network of a mobile operator.  Full private ownership of the whole LTE network – including Base Stations and Core – has several advantages.

Major Benefits of Private 5G

CableFree Private 5G Base Station RRH
CableFree 5G-NR Remote Radio Head (RRH)

The many benefits of a Private 5G network can include:

  • Guaranteeing coverage and capacity in the target coverage area. Organisations can design, engineer and update the RAN to meet their specific performance demands, including for coverage, configuring uplink and downlink, set usage policy, determine which users connect, how traffic is prioritised, and other key parameters.
  • Optimising parameters in the 5G radio to operate in challenging physical environments (e.g., warehouse or oil/gas facility with lots of metal). This can include fast recovery from failure, or optimizations for reliability, and for latency. This is not possible when connecting to a public network, where such parameters are under control of the operator, not the user.
  • Retaining control of critical data: In private networks, the organization controls its own security and can ensure that sensitive information does not leave the network; this is an essential requirement for many types of businesses and security-focused organisations. Another benefit of keeping data and the core network on the private 5G network is the risk of service disruption due to a WAN link outage is eliminated.
  • Dedicated coverage and capacity of high speed 4G network with the ability to customise performance to enterprise needs
  • High speed, high capacity, reliable and secure mobile broadband communication layer for mission-critical and business-critical people, machines and applications
  • A fast route to digital transformation and IoT, bringing intelligent insights for more efficient operation, agility, quality and innovation
  • LTE mobility – the use of advanced applications on mobile platforms (vehicles, robots, etc) and transparent hand-over to public 5G networks outside of private 5G network coverage
  • In mining and minerals, private 5G can be used to automate remote facilities and enhance security
  • Enabling IoT applications which can run over a Private 5G network

Availability of 5G Spectrum

CableFree-Multefire-5GHz-Unlicensed-LTE

In terms of spectrum, owners of private 5G deployments can choose to use from:

  • Shared-access 3.5 GHz band (i.e., Citizens Broadband Radio Service, or CBRS) in the USA
  • 5 GHz unlicensed band globally (using Unlicensed LTE, also known as MulteFire)
  • Licensed bands if available from national government regulators: some regions are available for ISPs or for networks for specific applications (Safety, Law Enforcement, Energy Utilities)

Early examples of private 5G networks were typically deployed in licensed spectrum with permission from the regulator or partner mobile operator, the availability of open access spectrum in combination with built-for-purpose, interoperable equipment, makes it easier for organizations to deploy and operate a private 5G network.

Licensed and Unlicensed:  Where there is choice, organisations can decide whether to deploy with unlicensed 5GHz, or licensed band operation.  Some organisations, especially Government, Security, Energy & Utilities can get access to spectrum to run private 5G Networks.

CableFree-5G-logo

4G, 5G and Beyond

An organisation deploying Private LTE can choose vendor equipment with roadmap that suits them; quality modern equipment such as CableFree includes Software Defined Radio and Software Defined Networking with easy roadmap to 5G and beyond.  The upgrade cycle of software and/or hardware can be under the user’s control, and meet demands for coverage, capacity, applications and network features.

5G network speed vs 4G

With every new generation of wireless technology, the biggest appeal is increased speed. 5G networks have potential peak download speeds of 20 Gbps, with 10 Gbps being seen as typical. That’s faster than current 4G networks, which currently top out at around 1 Gbps, and also faster than cable internet connections that deliver broadband to many people’s homes. 5G offers network speeds that rival optical-fiber connections.

Raw speed alone isn’t 5G’s only important improvement; it also features a huge reduction in network latency. That’s an important distinction: throughput measures how long it would take to download a large file, while latency is determined by network bottlenecks and delays that slow down responses in back-and-forth communication.

Latency can be difficult to quantify because it varies based on many network conditions, but 5G networks are capable of latency rates that are less than a millisecond in ideal conditions. Overall, 5G latency will be lower than 4G’s by a factor of 60 to 120. That will make possible a number of applications such as virtual reality that delay makes impractical today.

Product Availability

CableFree Cat6 to Cat12 Desktop LTE CPE
CableFree Cat12 Desktop LTE CPE

CableFree 5G solutions for Private 5G networks are available in all 5G bands from 450MHz up to 5925MHz, including licensed and unlicensed bands.  CableFree offers 5G-NSA and 5G-SA solutions, with Small Cell and Macro Cell products in licensed spectrum, or 5GHz MulteFire and CBRS small cells that allow enterprises and other professional organisations to deploy their own private 5G networks in Licensed and Open-Access Spectrum.  In addition to gNodeB 5G Base Stations, CableFree offers core network, customised private SIM cards and CPE devices to build complete “Stand alone” 5G solutions.
A small note, as of Nov 2020, 5G CPE chipset vendors are not yet supporting 5G in 5GHz (n46) band. Availability of 5GHz 5G CPEs will depend on their release.

Acknowledgements: the 5G logo is (C) 3GPP and Multefire logo is (C) the Multefire Alliance

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What is 5G? How is it better than 4G?

CableFree 5G Wireless Network

5G networks can boost wireless connection speeds by a factor of 10 and may replace wired broadband. But what are the challenges faced by 5G, compared to 4G technology?

What is 5G?

What is 5G ? CableFree 4G vs 5G Wireless Network
5G Wireless Network

5G wireless is an umbrella term to describe a set of standards and technologies for a radically faster wireless internet that ideally is up to 20 times faster with 120 times less latency than 4G, setting the stage for IoT networking advances and support for new high-bandwidth applications.

5G and 4G are marketing words used to describe the standards set by the 3GPP for mobile wireless communications technology

5G network speed vs 4G

With every new generation of wireless technology, the biggest appeal is increased speed. 5G networks have potential peak download speeds of 20 Gbps, with 10 Gbps being seen as typical. That’s faster than current 4G networks, which currently top out at around 1 Gbps, and also faster than cable internet connections that deliver broadband to many people’s homes. 5G offers network speeds that rival optical-fiber connections.

Raw speed alone isn’t 5G’s only important improvement; it also features a huge reduction in network latency. That’s an important distinction: throughput measures how long it would take to download a large file, while latency is determined by network bottlenecks and delays that slow down responses in back-and-forth communication.

Latency can be difficult to quantify because it varies based on many network conditions, but 5G networks are capable of latency rates that are less than a millisecond in ideal conditions. Overall, 5G latency will be lower than 4G’s by a factor of 60 to 120. That will make possible a number of applications such as virtual reality that delay makes impractical today.

5G technology

The technology underpinnings of 5G are defined by a series of standards that have been in the works for the better part of a decade. One of the most important of these is 5G New Radio, or 5G NR, formalized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, a standards organization that develops protocols for mobile telephony. 5G NR will dictate many of the ways in which consumer 5G devices will operate, and was finalized in June of 2018.

A number of individual technologies have come together to make the speed and latency improvements of 5G possible, and below are some of the most important.

Millimeter waves

5G networks in the USA currently use frequencies in the 30 to 300 GHz range. (Wavelengths at these frequencies are between 1 and 10 millimeters, thus the name.) This high-frequency band can carry much more information per unit of time than the lower-frequency signals currently used by 4G LTE, which is generally below 1 GHz, or Wi-Fi, which tops out at 6 GHz.

Millimeter-wave technology has traditionally been expensive and difficult to deploy, and operate over much shorter distances than lower-frequency 5G bands. Technical advances have overcome those difficulties, which is part of what’s made 5G possible today.

Initial 5G deployments in the USA have focused on Millimeter waves (mmWave), compared to Sub-6GHz 5G deployments in Europe, Middle East and some other early 5G markets

Small cells

One drawback of millimeter wave transmission is that it’s more prone to disruption than Wi-Fi or 4G signals: the high frequency signals don’t pass through solid objects such as brick walls, metal and concrete.

To overcome this, the model for 5G infrastructure will be different from 4G’s. Instead of the large cellular-antenna masts we’ve come to accept as part of the landscape, 5G networks will be powered by much smaller base stations spread throughout cities about 250 meters apart, creating cells of service that are also smaller.

These 5G Small Cell base stations have lower power requirements than those for 4G and can be attached to buildings and utility poles more easily.

Massive MIMO

Despite 5G base stations being much smaller than their 4G counterparts, they pack in many more antennas. These antennas are multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), meaning that they can handle multiple two-way conversations over the same data signal simultaneously. 5G networks can handle more than 20 times more conversations in this way than 4G networks.

Massive MIMO promises to radically improve on base station capacity limits, allowing individual base stations to have conversations with many more devices. This in particular is why 5G may drive wider adoption of IoT. In theory, a lot more internet-connected wireless gadgets will be able to be deployed in the same space without overwhelming the network.

Beamforming

Ensuring all these signals go back and forth to the right places is tricky, especially with the challenges millimeter-wave signals have with signal obstructions and distance limitations. To overcome those issues, 5G stations deploy advanced beamforming techniques, which use constructive and destructive radio interference to make signals directional rather than broadcast. That effectively boosts signal strength and range in a particular direction.

5G-network services availability

The first commercial 5G network was rolled out in Qatar in May 2018. Since then, networks have been popping up across the world, from Argentina to Vietnam.

One thing to keep in mind, though, is that not all 5G networks deliver on all the technology’s promises yet. Almost all early 5G offerings piggyback on existing 4G infrastructure (Non-Standalone, NSA mode), which reduces the potential speed gains; other services dubbed 5G for marketing purposes don’t even comply with the standard. Later on, Standalone (SA) mode 5G will become available.

What about 6G? Why talk about 6G already?

Some experts say 5G won’t be able to meet the latency and reliability targets it is aiming for. These skeptics are already looking ahead to 6G, which they say will try to address these projected shortcomings.

Some groups researching new technologies that can be included into 6G include The Center for Converged TeraHertz Communications and Sensing (ComSenTer). Part of the specifications they are working on calls for 100Gbps speed for every device.

In addition to adding reliability, overcoming reliability and boosting speed, 6G is also trying to enable thousands of simultaneous connections. If successful, this feature could help to network IoT devices, which can be deployed in the thousands as sensors in a variety of industrial settings.

Even in its embryonic form, 6G may already be facing security concerns due to the emergence of newly discovered potential for man-in-the-middle attacks in tera-hertz based networks. The good news is that there’s plenty of time to find solutions to the problem. 6G networks aren’t expected to start rolling out until 2030.

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