The full name of 5G is the fifth generation mobile network.
1G (voice call): The first generation (1G) was launched in the late 1970s and put into use in the early 1980s. Does the 1G network between distributed base station (hosted on the base station tower) use analog signals and standards such as AMPS and TACS? Pass? Mobile phone users.
2G (Message Passing): In 1990s, the first batch of digital encrypted telecommunications was born in 2G mobile network, which improved voice quality, data security and data capacity, and provided limited data capacity through circuit switching using GSM standard.
3G (limited data: multimedia, text and Internet): At the end of 1990s and the beginning of 20th century, 3G network introduced a 3G network with higher data transmission speed through complete transition to packet switching, and part of voice circuit switching has become the standard of 2G, making data flow possible. In 2003, the first commercial 3G service was launched, including mobile Internet access, fixed wireless access and video calling.
4G and LTE (real data: dynamic information access, variable equipment): 4G makes full use of all-IP networking and relies entirely on packet switching, and the data transmission speed is 10 times that of 3G. Due to the large bandwidth advantage and extremely fast network speed of 4G network, the quality of video data is improved. The popularity of LTE network sets communication standards for mobile devices and data transmission.
Compared with 4G, 5G has the characteristics of high speed, ubiquitous network, low power consumption and low delay, so it has super network capacity, provides the connection ability of hundreds of billions of devices, and meets the communication of the Internet of Things. At present, the following three application scenarios have been defined in the 5G era:
EMBB: Enhanced mobile broadband, as the name implies, is aimed at large-flow mobile broadband services;
URLLC: ultra-high reliability and ultra-low delay communication, such as unmanned service (3G 500 ms, 4G 50m s, 0.5ms); For 5g);
MMTC: Dalian accesses the Internet of Things, aiming at large-scale Internet of Things business;
The 5G standard is divided into two stages, R 15 and R 16, in which R 15 is divided into three parts, and r 15 nrsa (new air interface dependent networking) standard 20 17 15nrsa. The latter 5G drop will be frozen in June this year, and the completion time of R 16 standard will be in June 2020. By then, all 5G standards will be completed. The R 15 standard is mainly a 5G networking mode, and R 16 is mainly used in smart factories, driverless and other vertical fields.
NSA and SA in R 15 stage have been widely discussed.
Why is there NSA, that is, non-independent networking? Different from the previous overall evolution of 2G/3G/4G, the core network and base station in the 5G era are separated, so there are many combinations. The R 15 standard also adds more combinations for NSA, which can make it easier for mobile operators to deploy 5G networks, mainly by increasing the non-independent networking mode of NSA, transforming it into 5G as the core network, and adding 5G base stations as the mainstay, supplemented by 4G base stations; Or 4G base stations are the main ones, supplemented by 5G base stations. In addition, it also supports NR-NR dual connection, that is, the mobile phone connects two different frequency bands at the same time, with the low frequency as the coverage layer and the high frequency as the expansion layer, which not only ensures the signal coverage but also improves the transmission rate.
At present, only Huawei mobile phones support SA networking among commercial 5G mobile phones. SA networking is the future development trend, but it does not mean that NSA is fake 5G. At present, many domestic operators use NSA, and the development of 5G is the transition from NSA to SA. All mobile phones will support NSA/SA next year. I suggest you buy it next year!
Two schemes of 5G: sub-6G and millimeter wave
There are two ways to build 5G: independent networking and non-independent networking. What kind of 5G do you want to build? In fact, there are two ways, namely, the two major schemes of 5G: Sub-6G and millimeter wave.
These two schemes are divided according to the different frequency spectrum used by 5G. The frequency spectrum is short for spectrum density, and mobile phone communication signals are transmitted through a certain frequency.
According to TS 38. 104 (version V 15.0.0) released in February, 20 17, the frequency range of 5G NR is defined as different FR: FR 1 and FR2. The first category (FR 1) focuses on the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum below 6GHz. Low-middle frequency band? Also known as? Son 6? ), mainly in the 3GHz and 4 GHz bands. The second FR2 is concentrated in the frequency band between 24 and 24~300GHz (? High frequency spectrum? Or? Millimeter wave? )。
What is the frequency band number of 5G NR? n？ What is the band number with LTE at the beginning? b？ It was different at first. At present, the 5G NR frequency band designated by 3GPP is as follows:
(1) in the range of FR 1 (below 6 GHz):
② In the range of FR2 (millimeter wave):
Millimeter wave with shorter wavelength will produce narrower beam, which provides better resolution and security for data transmission, and it is fast, large in data volume and small in time delay. Secondly, more millimeter-wave bandwidth is available, which not only improves the data transmission speed, but also avoids the congestion of low frequency band (before millimeter-wave frequency is applied to 5G, this frequency band is mainly used for radar and satellite services). The 5G millimeter wave ecosystem needs large-scale infrastructure, but it can achieve data transmission speed 20 times higher than that of 4G LTE network.
In the exhibition of MWC, Qualcomm achieved a network transmission rate of 4.63Gbps by using millimeter wave technology, which was unimaginable in the 4G era.
However, due to the physical characteristics of radio waves, the short wavelength and narrow beam characteristics of millimeter waves enhance the signal resolution, transmission security and transmission speed, but the transmission distance is greatly reduced.
According to Google's 5G coverage test for the same range and the same number of base stations, the 5G network deployed by millimeter wave can cover 100Mbps/1.6% of the population and 3.9% at 1Gbps. In the sub-6 band of 5G network, the network with 100Mbps rate can cover 57.4% of the population, and the network with 1Gbps rate can cover 2 1.2% of the population.
Compared with Google's test results, the millimeter wave coverage is above, and the Sub-6 is below.
It can be seen that the coverage rate of 5G network running under Sub-6 is more than 5 times that of millimeter wave. Moreover, to build a millimeter-wave base station, it is necessary to install130,000 on the telephone pole, which costs 400 billion US dollars. In this way, the coverage rate can reach 72% at 28GHz band 100 Mbps and 55% at 1Gbps. Sub-6 only needs to install a 5G base station on the original 4G base station, which greatly saves the deployment cost.
At present, because the US government, especially the military, uses a large number of frequency bands in the range of 3-4GHz for military communications and national defense communications, the United States can only choose to bet on millimeter waves.
China chose to bet on Asia 6G. According to 3GPP's specification for the spectrum range of 5G, China Unicom and China Telecom gave up their previous spectrum resources in exchange for the 3.5GHz resources with the highest industrial maturity (3400MHz-3500Mhz allocated to China Telecom and 3500MHz-3600MHz allocated to China Unicom). Mobile continues to be deeply cultivated in the 2.6GHz band and the 4.9GHz band.
In addition, although China gambled 6G, he did not give up the exploration of millimeter wave, and fully implemented the concept of not putting eggs in one basket.
5G Construction in China and USA
Just now, we said that the 5G millimeter wave in the United States is defective, so at present, the frequency band between 3 GHz and 4 GHz of Sub-6G is dominant in the global 5G activities, because compared with the millimeter wave spectrum, the transmission range of 3 GHz and 4 GHz has been improved, and fewer base stations can be used to provide the same coverage and performance.
And China has also become a global leader of 5G, and is expected to become a leader of the global economy of 5G, and build a global standard of 5G:
China plans to deploy the first widely used 5G network, and its first batch of sub-6 network services will be put into use in 2020. The first-Mover advantage may promote the market growth of smart phones and telecom equipment suppliers as well as domestic semiconductor and system suppliers. Therefore, Internet companies in China will develop services and applications based on 5G speed and low latency for their domestic market. With the deployment of 5G in similar frequency bands around the world, smart phones and Internet applications and services in China are likely to dominate, even if they are excluded from the US market. China's development in the field of 5G will reproduce the glory of the United States in the field of 4G.
Overseas, China has been cooperating with domestic and foreign companies to expand the influence of 5G. In Europe, Huawei and ZTE are still providing services for the construction of 5G networks in individual countries, and have signed many 5G contracts, although American officials have asked their allies to stop China. Besides, where is China? Belt and Road? The plan has invested a lot of time and resources, including promoting the construction of network infrastructure in China to provide connectivity for the whole route. This strategy has achieved some success: in the third quarter of 20 18, Huawei occupied 28% of the global communication equipment market, which was 4 percentage points higher than that in 20 15. Huawei's market share is expected to continue to grow as more regions' 5G networks rely on China's communication equipment. These efforts will enable China to promote its preferred 5G network standards and specifications, and will dominate the global 5G product market in the future.
The United States is still thinking about how to completely solve the defects of millimeter waves. At present, the United States is trying to improve the propagation efficiency of millimeter waves through large-scale MIMO and beamforming.
Large-scale MIMO is an antenna array, which will greatly expand the number of device connections and data throughput, enable the base station to accommodate more users' signals, and significantly improve the network capacity (assuming there are multiple user RF paths). Beamforming is a technology to identify specific users, which can transmit data to specific users most effectively and reduce the interference of nearby users. Although these technologies can improve the propagation efficiency of millimeter wave, it is still a challenge to keep the connection stable in a wider range. Before millimeter wave is deployed as a more general wireless network solution, it needs to invest a lot of time and research and development costs to solve the propagation characteristics of millimeter wave.
In addition, the United States is still considering whether to switch to the Sub-6G scheme and follow China's example.
Accelerate the deployment of 5G 6 sub-6 GHz in the United States. It takes about two years to add a new frequency band to a complex multi-band transceiver. The United States will be able to use the existing sub-components and equipment in the market to achieve more mature spectrum use, such as using the existing Qualcomm products to realize the frequency band used by China's 5G system, thus avoiding spending extra time to make up for the backwardness in 5G research in the past two years.
However, even if you enjoy the spectrum through * *, it will take five years:
If you want to allow 6-band commercialization, you can re-plan government bands or * * * enjoy these bands, but both methods will take a relatively long time. It usually takes more than 10 years to clear spectrum occupation (moving existing users and systems to other parts of the spectrum) and then release it to the civil sector through auction, direct distribution or other methods. * * * Enjoying the spectrum is a slightly faster process, because there is no need to completely transform the existing users, but even so, it will take more than five years.
It can be said that at present, the United States has fallen into the plight of 5G, while China has made a very steady progress in the development of 5G. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently said that the 5G networks promoted in various places are basically non-independent networking, and it is expected that China will formally invest in large-scale construction of independent networking 5G networks next year.
According to China Information and Communication Research Institute's economic contribution to the 5G industry, it is estimated that from 2020 to 2025, the economic aggregate directly driven by China's 5G business will reach 10.6 trillion yuan, and the indirect economic aggregate will be about 24.8 trillion yuan, and 5G will directly create more than 3 million jobs.
Most importantly, China will probably become the global leader of 5G, and reproduce the global economic hegemony of the United States in the 4G era.
Source: The National Defense Innovation Committee of the US Department of Defense released "5G Ecosystem: Risks and Opportunities of the US Department of Defense" ("5G Ecosystem: Risks &; Opportunities for the Department of Defense) report.