VOLUME 14 PART 4 2020

LPWANs and 5g technologies – parts of a fragmented IoT connectivity ecosystem

Terahertz communication – could this be the answer to demand for higher data rates?
Mobile Radio Access Networks – how do we meet the challenges for 5g evolution and beyond?

Telecoms Professional magazine

– ITP Awards - and the winners are?
– Why apprenticeships are key to telecoms

Spotlight on wireless communications

From IoT connectivity to Content Delivery Networks
Between hope
and possible

there’s
a bridge.
There from the beginning
to where we stand today.
And to where we will go from here.
One company. One promise.

If you can imagine it,

we will build the bridge
to get you there.
 INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP

EDITORIAL 03

ITP Journal EDITORIAL (Vol. 14, Part 4)

October – December 2020
Editorial Board
Chair of the Editorial Board
Prof. Nigel Linge PhD CEng FIET FBCS FITP
Managing Editors
Crissi Williams MITP
Jo Evans MCIM MITP
Editor
Caroline Scoular BA (Hons) MITP
Director of Technology
Tim Wright BSc(Eng) CEng MIET ACGI MITP
Technical Sourcing Manager
Roger Ward MA(Cantab), MSc MBA CEng MIET
Secretary
EDITORIAL
NIGEL LINGE,
Mick Saunders DMS DipM MBA MSc MITP
Ivan Boyd BSc MSc PhD CEng MIET MITP
CHAIRMAN, EDITORIAL BOARD
Tom Culley MITP
Lucy Doherty BSc(Hons) MITP
Josh Fowler RITTECH MITP
Hannah Hargreaves MITP Welcome to the latest issue of The Journal which features five main papers, four of which
Matthew Hargraves, BSc(Hons) MITP address the general theme of wireless technologies.
James Harwood FSCTE TAP.Cert MITP
Stephen Hearnden BSc CEng FIET FITP Starting with the themed papers, the first is by José Dávila who considers connectivity
Peter McCarthy-Ward FITP BSc(Hons) requirements of the Internet of Things (IoT). In this context connectivity is the glue that
Ian Morfett BA ICMA MITP bonds the IoT devices and sensors, referred to as the edge, to the processing and storage
Paul O’Brien BA(Hons) MSc MIET MITP functions provided within the cloud. But making the right connectivity choice necessitates
Jason Pantelis MsC, MIET MITP a balance between power consumption, range and bandwidth. Whilst 5G is often
Gerard Powis CEng BEng(Hons) MIET MITP promoted as the network that will facilitate the true potential of the IoT, as the research
Prof. Andy Sutton CEng FIET FBCS MSc FITP presented in this paper shows, the IoT connectivity market is much broader, complex and
Prof. Andy Valdar BTech MSc CEng FIET FITP
fragmented than this which actually offers opportunities to provide highly customisable
Prof. Keith Ward CEng FIET FCGI FITP
and adaptable IoT applications.
The Journal of The Institute of
Telecommunications Professionals The second paper is from regular contributor Ed Smith, who examines the plethora of
Sunbury TE, Green St, Sunbury-on-Thames, radio technologies that lie beyond mobile and WiFi. Also focusing on the IoT, the paper
Middx. TW16 6QJ. identifies a substantial need for low power, low bandwidth but long-range wireless
t: +44 (0)1932 788861 solutions. In so doing, the paper reflects on why both WiMax and White Space didn’t gain
e: thejournal@theitp.org traction but then identifies SkyFox, LoRaWAN and NB-IoT as key contender technologies.
www.theitp.org However, these three have important differences with both SkyFox and LoRaWAN using
Published by
unlicensed spectrum and operating under quite difference commercial models than NB-
Alchemy Contract Publishing for The Institute
of Telecommunications Professionals IoT which falls under the control of the mobile network operators. All three technologies
59/60 Thames St, Windsor, SL4 1TX are actively competing in the commercial IoT landscape and currently enjoying a measure
t: +44 (0)1753 272022 of success.
e: info@alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk
www.alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk The third paper is by A. Vijay and K. Umadevi and reviews recent developments in
ISSN: 1755-9278 © 2020 Terahertz communication which offers far greater bandwidths than millimetre-wave and
is therefore seen as a contender for beyond-5G networks. With the potential to offer data
NOT A MEMBER? PLEASE VISIT rates of 100Gbps, Terahertz systems do experience high propagation losses. However,
www.theitp.org/account/register research in Ultra-Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output antenna arrays is showing great
to become a member. promise in extending the operational range. The potential of Terahertz communication is
Alternatively sign up for a new member further illustrated within the paper by examining three major applications comprising
call at www.theitp.org/calendar remote sensing and imaging, ultra-high bandwidth access networks and large
integrated surfaces.

THE JOURNAL TJ
 THE JOURNAL TJ

04 EDITORIAL

The final paper in the themed set is by Adrian Sharples who addresses the issue of VOLUME 14 PART 4 2020

meeting capacity and service challenges as mobile connectivity evolves from human-to-
human to machine-to-machine. To date, the choices made have been a compromise
LPWANs and 5g technologies – parts of a fragmented IoT connectivity ecosystem
between technical, commercial, practical and regulatory influences with customers Terahertz communication – could this be the answer to demand for higher data rates?
Mobile Radio Access Networks – how do we meet the challenges for 5g evolution and beyond?
expecting enhanced services to be delivered for the same price or less. Hence, operators
are constantly seeking ways to improve efficiency to control costs and identifying
applications that will deliver new revenue streams. Could Open-RAN and cell-less
systems be the way forward for meeting future diverse capacity and service
requirements?

Content Delivery Networks (CDN) are critical to enabling the Internet to function yet their
existence is unknown by most users. Our fifth paper is from James Krethmar and
reveals all. Slow downloads are often the result of traffic bottlenecks arising from Telecoms Professional magazine

thousands of users trying to access the same web content from a single host. However, a – ITP Awards - and the winners are?
– Why apprenticeships are key to telecoms

CDN distributes content across several servers thereby avoiding the traffic bottleneck as
Spotlight on wireless communications
users retrieve content from a local source. The architecture of the CDN is critical to its From IoT connectivity to Content Delivery Networks

performance and with huge increases in video streaming and improvements in access
networks, the paper reflects on how CDNs must evolve.

Returning to the theme of wireless communication, our opinion piece is from Peter
Cochrane who questions whether the ‘G’ technologies should dominate. With rising
demands from machine-to-machine and IoT systems, increased optical fibre roll-out, and
with the number of WiFi hotspots massively exceeding mobile cell sites, he asks what is
the future of the energy hungry, cellular network?

As per normal, The Journal is rounded off with Back in the Day that looks at key events
from telecommunication’s recent and more distant past which in this issue includes the
introduction of the GPO’s radiophone service, the launch of the world’s first fully-
integrated camera phone and the important public service role played by the Police Box.

As always, you’ll find the entertaining Telecoms Professional on the flip side of this issue,
with all the latest news, views and career-progression advice from ITP.

I hope you enjoy both issues.

Nigel Linge
Chair of the Editorial Board, FITP

Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020

 The foundation of any successful
business lies way beyond its
bricks and mortar. Where?
In its building’s connectivity.
Not only does it bring to
life culture, connectivity makes
the business dynamic and
future proof too.
cluttons.com/connectivity

Others know
how to make
buildings work.
We know
how to make
buildings buzz.

BRICKS. M O RTA R . C O N N E C T I V I T Y.
 THE JOURNAL TJ
06 CONTENTS
VOLUME 14 PART 2 2020
VNCs for smart cities – small-cell connectivity and street-level data Fibre Optic Submarine Cables – increased demand and new eras
Fibre rollout – examining deployment costs for smart city network infrastructures Trans-Polynesian super-highway – fibre lands on one of the world’s remotest countries
Strategic directions for telecoms – the new dilemmas for UK policymakers Guiding light with nothing at all – novel fibres and light guiding properties
Telecoms Professional magazine Telecoms Professional magazine
– Challenges and opportunities for telecoms during COVID-19 – ITP Awards’ call for entries
– Remote learning and ITP’s career accreditations – Continuing Professional Development
Spotlight on Smart Cities Optical Fibre and Submarine Cables
– Costs, collaborations and overcoming conundrums
THE JOURNAL
THIS MONTH
From radio
technologies and
CONTENTS
JOSÉ DÁVILA
IoT connectivity to
Terahertz LPWANs AND 5G
TECHNOLOGIES:
communication, PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT
CONNECTIVITY ECOSYSTEM
This article considers the role and prospects of alternative connectivity technologies in delivering the
Internet of Things (IoT). It presents an overview of the factors driving critical investment decision and
draws heavily on the author’s research for his recent M.Sc. dissertation.
content delivery
The Internet of Things (IoT) is fundamentally
about connecting things to the Internet to
gather data from the physical world and
acting upon the insights gained. IoT has the
potential to disrupt and benefit both the way
we live and the way we do business.
According to the interviewees that
contributed to this research project, the four
industries that will have the highest IoT
adoption rates in the near future are:
Automotive and Transport, Manufacturing
and Industrial, Agriculture, Logistics and
Operations.
networks and
IoT has the potential to disrupt and benefit in
capacity and service equal measures. And that means opportunities
abound for practitioners and participants.
challenges.
Plus: Examining the
future of the ever
The Institute of Telecommunications
energy-hungry, Professionals, Sunbury TE, Green Street,
cellular network. Sunbury on Thames, Middx, TW16 6QJ
T: 01932 788861 F: 01932 785205
E: letters@theitp.org www.theitp.org
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
Communications – past, present and future
LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES: PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT CONNECTIVITY ECOSYSTEM
The perceived value, or potential value, of IoT
is supported by different forecasts that
estimate the IoT spend or the number of IoT
connections in the coming years. For
example, IDC predicts that the global IoT
spend will reach US$ 1.05 trillion by 2022
[1], while Ericsson estimates that by 2024
there will be 22.2 billion IoT connections [2].
In order to implement the systems that will
deliver these benefits, IoT system integrators
usually follow a three-layer architecture that
comprises the sensors or actuators that
VOLUME 14 PART 3 2020 VOLUME 14 PART 4 2020
LPWANs and 5g technologies – parts of a fragmented IoT connectivity ecosystem
Terahertz communication – could this be the answer to demand for higher data rates?
Mobile Radio Access Networks – how do we meet the challenges for 5g evolution and beyond?
Telecoms Professional magazine
– ITP Awards - and the winners are?
– Why apprenticeships are key to telecoms
Spotlight on wireless communications
From IoT connectivity to Content Delivery Networks
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP THE JOURNAL TJ
09 18 ED SMITH
WIRELESS BEYOND
MOBILE AND WI-FI
Much of the published work on radio transmission covers the main technologies of mobile (especially 5G)
and 802.11 Wi-Fi1. Radio technologies are key to making the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality; there are
many options and only a few are likely to succeed commercially. From an understanding of operational
requirements, technology evolution and spectrum utilisation, this article identifies why some technologies
JOSÉ DÁVILA fail and others succeed.
Delivering the
Internet of Things ED SMITH Radio technologies fall both inside and
outside of those available under the banner
An understanding of low powered networks
and the competitive scenario for radio
of 3GPP (the Third Generation Partnership services is key to understanding meaningful
Deciding factors Project) that is defining the standards for 5G. deployment in IoT solutions. It is important to
interact with the real world (edge), the
communications equipment and
and keys to In addressing critical success factors, it is
first necessary to consider the role of
realise that the network is but one
component of the “IoT” solution and that
technologies that connect those devices to
the Internet (connectivity), and the
success spectrum and its relevant properties as well
as examining the fate of some previously
integrating sensors, network, applications
and systems into a coherent solution will
processing and storage of the collected data well publicised radio technologies such as require considerable systems’ integration
(cloud). WiMAX and White Space. skills
1
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) defines a wide range of standards, those
pertaining to radio begin with the prefixes “802.11” and "802.15".
THE JOURNAL TJ Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
Radio technologies are key to making
IoT a reality. But why do some
technologies fail and others succeed?
Published by Alchemy Contract Publishing on
behalf of the ITP, Gainsborough House, 59/60
Thames Street, Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1TX
T: 01753 272022 F: 01753 272021
www.alchemycontractpublishing.co.uk

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
LPWANs and 5G technologies: parts of a fragmented
IoT connectivity ecosystem.
40 LPWANS AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES:
PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT
CONNECTIVITY ECOSYSTEM 9 BEYOND-5G NETWORKS
This article considers the role and prospects of
alternative connectivity technologies in delivering
the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is fundamentally
about connecting things to the Internet to gather
data from the physical world and acting upon the
insights gained. It has the potential to disrupt and
benefit both the way we live and the way we do
business. The connectivity market for IoT is highly
fragmented. Rather than being seen as a
complexity, this can be seen as an opportunity to
offer IoT applications that are highly customisable
and adaptable to different customer needs,
resulting in plenty of room for competition and
differentiation for the different practitioners and
participants of the IoT value chain.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 17
Wireless beyond mobile and Wi-Fi.
WIRELESS BEYOND MOBILE AND WI-FI 18
Radio technologies are key to making the Internet
of Things (IoT) a reality; there are many options
and only a few are likely to succeed commercially,
says Ed Smith, who identifies why some
technologies fail and others succeed.
Radio technologies fall both inside and outside of
those available under the banner of the Third
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that is
defining the standards for 5G. In addressing
critical success factors, it is first necessary to
consider the role of spectrum and its relevant
properties as well as examining the fate of some
previously well publicised radio technologies such
as WiMAX and White Space. An understanding of
low powered networks and the competitive
scenario for radio services is key to understanding
meaningful deployment in IoT solutions.
CORPORATE SPONSORS
24
Recent developments in Terahertz communication
and application to beyond-5g networks.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN TERAHERTZ
COMMUNICATION AND APPLICATION TO
25
According to Moore’s Law, the speed and capacity
of a computing device doubles every two years. As
a consequence, digital technology is constantly
upgraded with an ever-increasing volume of data
being processed. Such data must be
communicated across the globe, inevitably
compromising the processing speed of personal
and professional digital processing devices.
Statistics up to the end of 2019 show that 4.5
billion people across the world rely on internet
usage. With adequate technology development,
say the authors, certain applications to meet the
demand for higher data rates could be addressed
effectively using the THz band as it has a much
greater capacity to mmWave technology.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 30
Mobile Radio Access Networks - meeting
challenges for 5g evolution and beyond.
MOBILE RADIO ACCESS NETWORKS -
MEETING CHALLENGES FOR 5G
EVOLUTION AND BEYOND 31
When public mobile networks were launched in
the UK in the 1980s, voice was the only service
offered. Although capacity was a consideration, it
was secondary to the need to rapidly rollout
coverage. Adrian Sharples explores why
increasing the capacity of mobile Radio Access
Networks (RANs) to meet increasing customer
demand has been a challenge throughout
successive generations of public mobile networks.
“As connectivity requirements evolve from
“human to human” to “machine to machine”, new
approaches to meeting diverse capacity and
service requirements will be required,” he says.
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
CONTENTS 07
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 37
An overview of Content Delivery Networks.
AN OVERVIEW OF CONTENT DELIVERY
NETWORKS 38
One of the most critical pieces of technology that
enables the Internet to function is also one of the
least well known - Content Delivery Networks
(CDNs). This article provides a history and
overview of the core functionality of a CDN, as
well more advanced technologies they include
today, followed by an examination of some design
considerations and, finally, the future trends of
CDN are discussed.
OPINION PIECE 43
“Where is wireless going?” asks Peter Cochrane.
Predicting technology futures is relatively easy
when progress is steadily following a smooth
logistic curve, he says. However, as the curve tops
out there tends to be sudden and unexpected
changes in the technology that trigger a new
phase of growth.
BACK IN THE DAY 44
October, November and December have proved an
inspirational time for telecoms over the years.
Nigel Linge provides a whirlwind tour of telecoms
triumphs, from 1959’s opening of the South
Lancashire Radiophone service to the launch of
the Sharp-JSH04 camera phone.
TELECOMS PROFESSIONAL
MAGAZINE 45
In the issue: And the winners are...? ITP’s annual
Awards reach their ‘virtual’ conclusion. Plus:
Upcoming webinars, apprenticeships and CPD.
TO READ THE JOURNAL ONLINE
PLEASE VISIT
https://www.theitp.org/knowledge_hub/
journal_archives
THE JOURNAL TJ
 The JourNAL TJ
08 execuTive summAry
LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES:
PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT
CONNECTIVITY ECOSYSTEM
The Internet of Things (IoT) will
enable the connection of huge
numbers of smart devices to the
Internet to gather data from the
physical world and communicate
the results to distributed
applications within the cloud that
will act upon the data gained.
Frequently, 5G is mentioned as the
network that will “unleash the true
potential of IoT” but this is far from
the whole story and it is important
to also understand the impact
alternative connectivity solutions
will have on 5G’s dominance.
This article draws on the author’s recent
research and presents an overview of the
factors driving critical investment decision in
ioT technology and applications. of the key
players surveyed, most do not think that 5G is
necessary for current ioT solutions, but many
think it could offer enhanced future
implementations given its low latency, low
packet loss and faster connectivity which
would allow implementers to offload most of
their data processing to the cloud. When
asked which industries they considered that
were going to have the fastest ioT adoption
rate in the coming years, Automotive /
Transport, manufacturing and Agriculture
were the sectors most frequently mentioned.
in order to implement the ioT, system
integrators usually follow a three-layer
architecture that comprises the sensors or
actuators that interact with the real world
(edge), the communications equipment and
technologies that connect those devices to the
internet (connectivity), and the processing and
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
LPWANs ANd 5G TechNoLoGies: PArTs of A frAGmeNTed ioT coNNecTiviTy ecosysTem
storage of the collected data (cloud). Within
each layer, implementers have a wide variety
of technologies and suppliers to choose from.
At the connectivity layer, the ecosystem is
highly fragmented and this presents
complex challenges, particularly for the
implementation of applications that require
interoperability or mobility across a wide
geographic area. solutions range from short-
range technologies, such as Wi-fi and
Bluetooth, to very long-range technologies,
such as satellite connectivity. Power
consumption is a critical differentiator
between low-power, low-bandwidth
networks such as LPWANs (Low Power Wide
Area Networks) and more power-hungry
cellular technologies such as LTe (Long-Term
evolution) and 4G mobile networks.
LPWANs are commonly used for massive ioT
applications because they are designed to
optimise systems where the connected
devices operate on battery, communicate
over long distances with base stations, and
only periodically send small amounts of data.
such connections are forecast to account for
nearly 20% of the total ioT connections by
2024. Within the LPWAN market, there is
competition between telco-led solutions
operating on licensed spectrum and
unlicensed spectrum alternatives.
5G offers new connectivity technologies
within the LPWAN market and 3GPP has
confirmed that the already standardised NB-
ioT (Narrowband ioT) and LTe-m (LTe for
machine-Type communications) protocols
will continue to be supported and evolve. for
smart city applications in urban areas where
cellular infrastructure is omnipresent, the co-
existence of telco-led LPWAN and cellular in
the same public network removes the need
to worry about network deployment and
management. The use of public ioT networks
also takes the capital cost of infrastructure
such as base stations and antennas out of
any business case.
of the unlicensed non-cellular technologies,
LoraWAN and sigfox have emerged as the
two most prominent players. LoraWAN is
based on an open standard specified by the
Lora Alliance and communications make use
of Lora (Long range) radio technology
developed by semtech. Whilst semtech owns
Lora and its radio designs are licensed to
hardware manufacturers, LoraWAN is an
open standard and anyone can build a
network by buying commercially available
gateways. sigfox is a global network owned
by a company that bears the same name.
The radio designs for the end-nodes can be
used without a license, but access to the
network and base station designs is owned
by sigfox. The connection to the sigfox cloud
is offered by exclusive sigfox operators,
designated by sigfox on a per-region basis.
Although the connectivity market for ioT is
highly fragmented, such complexity provides
an opportunity to offer ioT applications that
are highly customisable and adaptable to
different customer needs, resulting in plenty
of room for competition and differentiation for
the different practitioners and participants of
the ioT value chain. As long as ioT
implementers continue to leverage existing
infrastructure or existing coverage, there will
continue to be significant barriers to
switching to 5G solutions.
See opposite for the full article.
ANY COMMENTS?
Write in with your news, views and
comments at the usual address (see p3)
or email us on letters@theitp.org.
 INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP

JOSé DávILA LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES: PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT CONNECTIvITy ECOSySTEM 09

LPWANs AND 5G
TECHNOLOGIES:
PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT
CONNECTIVITY ECOSYSTEM
This article considers the role and prospects of alternative connectivity technologies in delivering the
Internet of Things (IoT). It presents an overview of the factors driving critical investment decision and
draws heavily on the author’s research for his recent M.Sc. dissertation.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is fundamentally
about connecting things to the Internet to
The perceived value, or potential value, of IoT
is supported by different forecasts that JOSÉ DÁVILA
gather data from the physical world and estimate the IoT spend or the number of IoT
acting upon the insights gained. IoT has the connections in the coming years. For Delivering the
potential to disrupt and benefit both the way
we live and the way we do business.
example, IDC predicts that the global IoT
spend will reach US$ 1.05 trillion by 2022
Internet of Things
According to the interviewees that [1], while Ericsson estimates that by 2024
contributed to this research project, the four there will be 22.2 billion IoT connections [2]. interact with the real world (edge), the
industries that will have the highest IoT communications equipment and
adoption rates in the near future are: In order to implement the systems that will technologies that connect those devices to
Automotive and Transport, Manufacturing deliver these benefits, IoT system integrators the Internet (connectivity), and the
and Industrial, Agriculture, Logistics and usually follow a three-layer architecture that processing and storage of the collected data
Operations. comprises the sensors or actuators that (cloud).

THE JOURNAL TJ
 THE JOURNAL TJ

10 JOSé DávILA

the associated infrastructure costs,

connectivity fees, and hardware costs.

Each IoT application will have specific

connectivity requirements. However, there
are some factors that are relevant to certain
sets of applications, allowing applications to
be grouped based on the factors they
prioritise. Four main groups of applications
were identified by Ericsson in its mobility
report, based on the different factors they
require to be prioritised [2]. It is worth noting
that they only propose cellular-based
alternatives as suitable technologies for
each group. Using Ericsson’s group-forming
criteria, a more inclusive categorisation can
be made as illustrated in Table 1.

New connectivity technologies are amongst

Figure 1: Bandwidth, range and power consumption trade-off the new functionalities offered by 5G. They
include the 5G New Radio (NR) global
For all three layers of the IoT architecture, compromise for at least one of the remaining standard for the air interface of 5G networks,
implementers have a wide variety of two. Figure 1 illustrates how some of the 5G-grade NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT), and 5G-
technologies and suppliers to choose from. current connectivity solutions are positioned grade LTE-M (LTE for Machine-Type
This might sound beneficial, but, especially against these key criteria and the trade-offs Communications) protocols [3]. However,
for the connectivity part, it may actually that have been made. 5G’s contribution to IoT will mean more than
complicate the implementers’ task. The IoT just providing new connectivity technologies.
connectivity ecosystem is highly fragmented. In practice, making a connectivity-choice is Another of 5G’s major contributions to IoT
This represents a complex issue for IoT an even more complex task as is well will be its core network functionalities, such
applications that require interoperability or illustrated in Figure 2. There are many other as:
mobility throughout a large geographic area. factors apart from bandwidth, range, and
power consumption, implementers must 1. Network slicing by creating different
Connectivity: a fragmented ecosystem consider. Moreover, those factors can be virtual networks (“slices”) that cater for
Turning specifically to connectivity, business-related, rather than purely applications that have different
implementers have many factors to consider technical. For example, each connectivity requirements, and the
before deciding which solution (or solutions) alternative will pose different cost
they choose for their implementations. considerations such as the engineering 2. Orchestration of multiple Radio Access
Solutions range from short-range hours needed to implement and support it, Technologies (RAT), thus simplifying
technologies, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, to
very long-range technologies, such as
satellite connectivity. Power consumption
required to operate within those networks is
another differentiator between the different
connectivity alternatives. On the one hand
there are low-power networks, such as
LPWANs (Low Power Wide Area Networks),
and on the other are more power-hungry
technologies, such as LTE (Long-Term
Evolution) or 4G mobile networks. A further
feature differentiating connectivity solutions
is the bandwidth made available to each
connected device.

Prioritising one of these features would imply Figure 2: The IoT connectivity decision

Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020

 INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP

LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES: PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT CONNECTIvITy ECOSySTEM 11

IoT Segment Main factors Applications Technologies

Consumer Local-area, low numbers, not power- voice assistant devices, smart Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
constrained, low/medium data volume lighting

Massive Wide-area, massive numbers, low-cost Smart metering, asset NB-IoT, LTE-M,
devices, low energy, low data volumes management LoRaWAN, Sigfox.1

Broadband Wide-area use, High throughput, Low Fleet management, drones/ LTE, 5G NR
latency, Large data volumes, UAv, virtual reality

Critical Wide-area and Local-area use, Autonomous cars, traffic and safety 5G NR
Extremely low latency, Ultra-high reliability control, smart grid automation

Industrial Automation Time-sensitive networks, industrial control, Collaborative robotics, advanced 5G NR2
precise positioning automation and control

Table 1: IoT use case segments

network implementations and network
interoperability.
Despite all of this, 5G New Radio (NR) is only
suitable for some application segments and,
in contrast to media reports, cannot be taken
as the ideal technology for all IoT
deployment.
Massive IoT and Low Power Wide Area
Networks (LPWANs)
For massive IoT applications, LPWANs are
key. According to Ericsson’s mobility report,
such connections will account for nearly
20% of the total IoT connections by 2024.
Massive IoT applications will usually address
business needs which are likely to drive
higher adoption rates than the consumer
sector [1].
LPWANs are commonly used for massive IoT
applications because they are designed to
optimise systems where the connected
devices operate on battery, communicate
over long distances with base stations, and
periodically send small amounts of data.
Within the LPWAN market, there is an
interesting competition phenomenon:
between LPWANs operating on licensed
spectrum (telco-led) and LPWANs operating
on unlicensed spectrum (non-telco-led). The
degree to which one or other of these
alternatives is favoured could affect business
models, especially those for 5G
deployments.
On the unlicensed side, LoRaWAN and Sigfox
seem to be the two most prominent players,
while NB-IoT and LTE-M are the two main
technologies for the licensed, cellular-based
part.
• LoRaWAN: is based on an open standard,
specified by the LoRa Alliance, and
communications make use of the LoRa
(Long Range) radio technology developed
by Semtech. Semtech owns LoRa and its
radio designs, which are licensed to
hardware manufacturers, but LoRaWAN is
an open standard and anyone can build its
own network by buying commercially
available gateways.
• Sigfox: is a global network owned by a
company that bears the same name. The
radio designs for the end-nodes can be
used without a license, but access to the
network and base station designs is
proprietary (owned by Sigfox). The
connection to the Sigfox Cloud is offered
by exclusive Sigfox operators, designated
by Sigfox on a per-region basis.
• NB-IoT and LTE-M: Cellular technologies
that can be offered through LTE base
stations via a software update (in most
cases), and are standardised by 3GPP, the
standards entity for most cellular
technologies.
Unlicensed LPWANs use shared spectrum,
and so are more prone to interference.
However, they offer flexibility (to some
extent) to build coverage where needed. For
example, an implementer can buy
commercially available LoRaWAN gateways
to build coverage in their area of interest. On
the other hand, the cellular, licensed
LPWANs offer higher capabilities, in general,
by operating in licensed spectrum.
Nevertheless, one of their main challenges is
that coverage is limited to the Telco’s’
deployment plans.
The capabilities of various technologies
available for LPWANs are summarised in
Table 2.
The connectivity choice and market
outlook
During the last couple of years, 5G has been
hitting the headlines. Frequently, 5G is
mentioned as the network that will “unleash
the true potential of IoT” but this is far from
the whole story and to understand this, it is
pertinent to address the impact alternative
connectivity solutions have on 5G’s
dominance.
5G NR is not suitable for every IoT
application and given that deploying 5G
networks is a capital-intensive business, it
seems likely that there will be market
sectors where non-cellular technologies will
prevail. Identifying these sectors, and the
factors shaping implementers’ choice of

1
These technologies could replace 2G and 3G in legacy systems
2
Depending on the area coverage and capabilities needed, certain Wi-Fi, Bluetooth specifications
and other short-range technologies could be considered here
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Sigfox LoRa LTE-M NB-IoT

Standard Proprietary Open 3GPP 3GPP

Spectrum Unlicensed Unlicensed Licensed Licensed

Channel Bandwidth 100Hz 7.8~500kHz 1.4 - 20MHz 180KHz

System Bandwidth 100KHz 125kHz 1.4 - 20MHz 180KHz

Peak Data Rate3 UL:100 bit/s 180 - 37.5kbit/s DL: 2 Mbit/s DL:234.7kbit/s
DL:600 bit/s UL: 1 Mbit/s UL:204.8kbit/s
Bidirectional Limited / Half-duplex yes / Half-duplex yes / Half or Full-duplex yes / Half-duplex

Max. Messages per day per BTS4 50000 50000 unlimited unlimited
140 (per Device)
Device Peak Transmit Power 25mW 25mW 200mW 200mW

Mobility supported No No yes No

Voice supported No No yes No

Device Power Consumption Low Low-Medium Medium Low

Table 2: Technical comparison between LPWANs. (Source: Dr. Ryan Grammenos, UCL 2019)

technologies, is a primary focus of the
analysis outlined in this article.
Competition between connectivity solutions
is highly likely. Although unlicensed and
licensed LPWANs have technical and
business differences, they cater for
applications with very similar requirements.
NB-IoT and LTE-M are considered 5G
technologies so a focus on the LPWAN
market was chosen to illustrate how non-
cellular technologies might be preferred, or
not, over 5G technologies.
The research explored the following topics:
• How do implementers choose their
connectivity solution?
• What considerations would they make
before switching to a cellular LPWAN
network (if they are not using one
already)?
• What do people expect from 5G as a
contribution to IoT?
• Which industries are more prone to adopt
IoT solutions in the coming years?
The research was conducted by attending
conferences and interviewing key industry
players.5 Six different profiles of potential
interviewees were identified: IoT
Implementers, Mobile Network Operators,
Other Connectivity Providers,
Researchers/Industry Experts, vendors, and
Regulators.
Results and findings
Though timescales and resources did not
permit a statistically significant survey
representing the whole range of players
active in this sector, the research project did
provide qualitative insights into the
developing perspectives and attitudes of key
practitioners and participants.
The IoT implementers who responded were
working on different applications in a range
of industry sectors. Nevertheless, it was still
considered valuable to ask them which
technical factors were more critical to their
connectivity solution. They were asked to
give a score ranging from “Critical “(5) to
“Not important” (1) to each technical factor.
Results of this online survey are shown in
Figure 3 and it can be seen that high
message frequency, long range and high
reliability were the most important factors,
whereas geolocation capabilities, the size of
each message, and a high bandwidth were
least important.
In some cases, hybrid connectivity was
needed. Also, specific hardware
functionalities could lead an implementer to
“stick” to built-in connectivity, others use
“powerless” solutions (e.g. RFID), and
sometimes bidirectionality of
communications was required. These were
other factors that should be considered.
Researchers and industry experts were also
asked to recommend an optimal network
technology when prioritising a single
technical factor above all. Where Wi-Fi was
not a possibility, they mainly favoured cellular
connectivity, and LoRaWAN was only
mentioned when flexibility or power
consumption were seen as the main priority.
After grouping all respondents
(implementers, experts and researchers) into

3
Uplink (UL); Downlink (DL)
4
Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020 5
During the research period, 14 interviews were carried out and 22 responses to online questionnaires were received.

Figure 3: Importance of technical factors in connectivity choice
industry groups, it was possible to
summarise a consensus on critical relevant
factors and chosen connectivity method. The
results are shown in Table 3.
Of the business factors most likely to
influence connectivity method, IoT
implementers are most likely to be
concerned with:
• Leveraging existing infrastructure, or
existing coverage, rather than building
new network infrastructure. Conversely, if
they have already built the infrastructure
and it “does the job” it would be hard for
them to switch to an operator’s network.
• The partner ecosystem that exists for a
certain network since they want to have
available a wide range of hardware
components, events, service providers,
technical support, etc.
Industry Sector
Agriculture/Forestry
Construction
Fast-moving consumer goods
Healthcare, Safety, and/or Wearables
Manufacturing
Smart Buildings
Transport and Logistics
Smart Cities
Table 3: Chosen connectivity, by industry, with relevant factors
6
Chosen for 2 solutions
7
Chosen for 1 solution
LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES: PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT CONNECTIvITy ECOSySTEM
• The level of customer support as it is one
of the most important factors when
running an IoT application
• Future-proofing as it is important that a
chosen connectivity method should be
able to endure and stand the test of time
Since cellular LPWANs (e.g. NB-IoT, LTE-M)
are still not widely available, and because
none of the interviewed implementers was
using them for their implementations, they
were asked if they were aware of their
existence in their area of interest and if they
would consider switching if they became
available. Awareness was not high, nor was
their willingness to switch.
The main concern, when considering
switching, was usually the impact of transfer
costs on their solution and consequently on
the total cost of ownership for the end-
Relevant Factors
Power, Range, Flexibility
Mobility, Geolocation, Frequency
Reliability, Power
Mobility, Geolocation, Power
Latency, Reliability, Flexibility
Mobility, Range, Latency
Frequency, Reliability, Mobility
Flexibility, Power, Range
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
13
customer. Both the implementers and
researchers/industry experts mentioned that
there would have to be a substantial benefit
to gain from switching to a cellular LPWAN
network in order to do it.
At the time when the research was being
done, only NB-IoT (by vodafone) was
(partially) available in the UK, while LTE-M
deployments were being planned by O2 and
Three (which also considered NB-IoT), while
BT was planning to deploy LoRaWAN and
NB-IoT networks.
Interviewees were asked what their
expectations of 5G for IoT developments
were. Most of them mentioned that 5G is not
necessary for current IoT solutions, but they
indicated ways in which 5G could improve
future implementations:
• Low latency, low packet loss, and faster
connectivity would allow implementers to
offload most of the processing of data to
the cloud.
• Ubiquitous connectivity and reduced
power consumption would open new
opportunities for IoT applications.
• An optimisation of device size would
benefit products such as wearables.
• Better security frameworks, than those
offered by current technologies, could be
put in place by 5G.
Connectivity Method
LoRaWAN
Cellular (2G,3G,4G)
Wi-Fi
Cellular (2G,3G,4G)
Wi-Fi
UHF RFID
Cellular (2G,3G,4G)6 RF433MHz7
LoRaWAN
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Figure 4: Most probable early IoT adopters

Industry Sector Share Important Factors Connectivity Method

Automotive and Transport 15% High mobility, low latency, high reliability 5G NR / 4G LTE

Manufacturing/IIoT 12% High message frequency, high bandwidth, stationary Wi-Fi (or alternative)

Healthcare 11% High mobility, low power, wearables Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Agriculture 11% Rural, long-range LoRaWAN, Sigfox

Logistics and Operations 11% High bandwidth, low latency, high mobility 5G NR / 4G LTE

Smart Cities 8% Long-range, stationary, low power, high density Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Smart Home 8% Indoor, low sensor density Wi-Fi (or alternative)

Asset Tracking 6% Precision, low latency, geolocation Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Utilities 5% Long-range, stationary, low power, high density Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Safety 3% High mobility, low power, wearables Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Construction 2% High mobility, low latency, high reliability 5G NR / 4G LTE

Telecommunications 2% Long-range, stationary, low power, high density Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Smart Meters 2% Long-range, stationary, low power, high density Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)

Mining 2% Poor cellular coverage, infrequent messages, remote LoRaWAN, Sigfox

Retail 2% Indoor, low sensor complexity Wi-Fi (or alternative)

Other 3% N/A Other

Table 4: Optimal connectivity method per IoT industry sector and indicative market opportunity

Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020


Technology
Cellular LPWANs (NB-IoT, LTE-M)
5G NR / 4G LTE
LoRaWAN, Sigfox
Wi-Fi (or alternative)
Other
Total
Table 5: value in 2022 of IoT addressable market by technology
Finally, when asking all the interviewee
profiles which industries they considered
that were going to have the fastest IoT
adoption rate in the coming years,
“Automotive /Transport”, “Manufacturing/
IIoT”, and “Agriculture” were most frequently
mentioned. These results are summarised in
Figure 4.
Figure 5: Connectivity choice decision process
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES: PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT CONNECTIvITy ECOSySTEM 15
interviewees had mentioned as a promising
Market Share $US bn
IoT adopter. These will not be the only
solutions adopted in any one sector, but they
35% 39.32
are those which appear to best correspond
to each sector’s needs. Then, the industries
28% 31.46
were grouped based on their optimal
connectivity method and the frequency with
12% 13.48
which an industry had been mentioned for a
particular connectivity method was used to
22% 24.72
calculate an indicative “market opportunity”
for each connectivity technology. (See Table
3% 3.37
3.)
100% 112.35
Finally, the value of the global IoT
connectivity market in 2022 was taken, as
forecasted by IDC in their Worldwide IoT
Spending report [4], to calculate the total
global value of each connectivity category.
AUTHOR’S CONCLUSIONS This approach offers a ballpark figure, a
rough estimate that can help better
To distil the observations of research into understand the market conditions for
practical conclusions a number of simplifying LPWANs and in general for IoT connectivity
steps were taken. solutions. (See Table 4.)
First, an “optimal” connectivity method was Bearing in mind the limitations in the scope
chosen for each industry that the of the research, it is valuable to consider the
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conclusions that can be drawn from the
interviews and questionnaires:
• Since the IoT connectivity market is
complex and fragmented, implementers
follow an also complex process to choose
their preferred connectivity method. They
take both technical and business factors
into account.
• Even though each case should be
analysed individually, there are certain
factors in common between applications
within the same industry sector, thus
favouring a particular connectivity
technology, or set of technologies.
• Nationwide, or even global, Cellular
LPWAN coverage would foster IoT
adoption and would enable the
implementation of a large number of
applications. However, deploying such
networks has not been a priority for most
Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) in
many countries. Also, the awareness of IoT
Implementers towards Cellular LPWANs, in
countries where they have been deployed,
is not high.
Finally, brief recommendations are offered
for some of the players in the different IoT
value chains, based on the experience
gained in this research project.
• Mobile Network Operators: break barriers
of adoption by deploying cellular LPWAN
networks. They will help leverage existing
infrastructure. Provide end-to-end
solutions to customers, via partnerships,
acquisitions, or in-house research and
development.
• LoRa Alliance: Simplify the
implementation process by fostering
partnerships between manufacturers
and network server providers. Incentivise
deployment of new LoRaWAN networks,
by offering benefits to those who
assume the task of doing so.
• Sigfox: Make the access station micro
widely available (i.e. easy to find,
purchase, and deploy) in order to increase
the flexibility for new Sigfox deployments.
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
LPWANs AND 5G TECHNOLOGIES: PARTS OF A FRAGMENTED IOT CONNECTIvITy ECOSySTEM
• Regulators: Foster the deployment of
cellular LPWANs, e.g. by freeing spectrum
for NB-IoT, or by allowing operators to
lease spectrum to third parties if they are
not using it.
• Implementers: Make sure to have a
compelling business case for the IoT
solution being implemented. There are
many choices available for connectivity
solutions. Be clear about the specific
requirements of the industry sector being
addressed in exercising the connectivity
choice. Take account of power, range,
latency, mobility as well as hardware and
maintenance costs.
As discussed, the connectivity market for IoT
is highly fragmented. Rather than being seen
as a complexity, this can be seen as an
opportunity to offer IoT applications that are
highly customisable and adaptable to
different customer needs, resulting in plenty
of room for competition and differentiation
for the different practitioners and participants
of the IoT value chain.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express special
thanks to Peter McCarthy-Ward, his M.Sc.
dissertation supervisor and sponsor for this
article.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
José Dávila is a Telecommunications
Engineer from Honduras (UNITEC, Honduras
and UNAB, Chile). In 2018 he was awarded
an MSc. in Telecommunications with
Business degree from University College
London after being awarded a Chevening
Scholarship by the FCO (Foreign and
Commonwealth Office).
He has over four years of experience in
project management, having worked for
REFERENCES
1. IDC (International Data Corporation).
IDC Forecasts Worldwide Spending on
the Internet of Things to Reach $745
Billion in 2019. IDC. January 2019.
Available:
https://www.businesswire.com/news
/home/20190103005070/en/IDC
(Accessed 11 Sept 2020.
2. Ericsson. Ericsson Mobility Report -
June 2019. Available:
https://www.ericsson.com/en/mobilit
y-report/reports (Accessed 11 Sept
2020)
3. Sierra Wireless. 5G for IoT. 2019.
Available:
https://www.sierrawireless.com/reso
urces/white-paper/5g-for-iot/
(Accessed 11 Sept 2020)
4. C. MacGillivray, M. Kalal, N. Wallis, M.
Torchia, J. Leung, y. Torisu, A. Bisht, R.
Membrila, S. Crook and A. Siviero.
Worldwide Internet of Things Forecast
Update, 2018–2022. January 2019.
Available:
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?cont
ainerId=US45862020. (Accessed 11
Sept 2020).
ABBREVIATIONS
IoT Internet of Things
LPWAN Low-Power Wide-Area
Network
LTE Long-Term Evolution (4th
Generation Mobile Networks)
BLE Bluetooth Low Energy
NB-IoT Narrowband IoT
LTE-M LTE for Machine-Type
Communications
5G NR 5th Generation Mobile
Networks New Radio
3GPP 3G Partnership Project
RFID Radio Frequency Identification
UHF Ultra High Frequency
Huawei (Chile) and ITS Infocom (Honduras).
Two years ago, he co-founded Internet of
Trees, an IoT start-up that has developed an
early warning system for wildfire detection.

ExEcutIvE SuMMARY
WIRELESS BEYOND
MOBILE AND WI-FI
There is a substantial need for
low power and low bandwidth
wireless technology to support
the rapidly emerging Internet of
Things (IoT). Whilst there is
general awareness of the main
technologies of mobile (especially
5G) and IEEE 802.11,
consideration must also be given
to radio technologies that fall
outside the mainstream, including
the 5G massive Machine Type
Communications (mMTC)
proposition. This article looks at
how such technologies have
evolved, identifying those that
have fallen by the wayside those
which are likely to succeed.
Radio spectrum is a scarce resource for
which there is accelerating demand and it is
tightly controlled by Government. Although
some areas are unlicensed, for example the
Industrial Scientific and Medical (ISM) bands
at 868 MHz, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz which are
used for a wide range of familiar applications
such as radio microphones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi
and Microwave ovens, frequency bands
attractive to mass applications such as
mobile invariably attract high licensing costs.
For a particular application, the choice of
frequency band is driven by the relationship
between transmitter power and range, the
rate of information transfer required, how
information transfer between different users
is managed and for cellular mobile networks,
mobility considerations including cell hand
over.
In the uK, the so-called digital dividend that
resulted from radio spectrum in the uHF
band being released in the process of the
transition to digital television led to the
introduction of well publicised radio
technologies such as WiMAx and White
Space. White Space was heralded as a
potential solution for rural broadband
deployments and despite a level of
technical success, cost and regulatory
uncertainty led to loss of momentum and
failure. WiMAx came in two flavours: IEEE
802.16d (fixed radio services) and IEEE
802.16e (mobile services). Despite early
hope, the fixed solution could not compete
against unregulated home broadband with
the unbundling of the local loop whilst the
mobile solution was overtaken by LtE. As is
so often the case with disruptive
technologies, success is often
unpredictable and changes in economics
and unpredictable development of
mainstream technologies can easily erode
early promise.
Low powered networks are critical to
deployment of Iot solutions but neither
WiMAx or White Space met the key
requirements for Iot based solutions,
namely the need to cover large scale
deployment over a wide area with long
battery life and low cost. Whilst Iot solutions
can be broadly defined, this article focusses
on the lower power requirements of sensor-
based networks typical of telemetry and
Smart city low data rate applications. For
such applications there is frequently a
trade-off between range and data rate and
in many cases, there is an advantage in
using unlicensed spectrum.
the three biggest players in this low power
WAN space are the LoRa Alliance, the Sigfox
French global network operator and 3GPP
with its specification of machine to machine
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
WIRELESS BEYOND MOBILE AND WI-FI 17
protocols including NB-IOt. All three are
actively competing in the market and
enjoying a measure of success.
LoRaWAN is an open protocol offered by the
LoRa alliance that uses unlicensed
spectrum, allowing almost anyone to set up
their own networks at a low cost. typical
applications include the monitoring of traffic
flows, pothole detection, cycle safety,
pedestrian crossings, personal well-being
and fire safety. In the licensed space, Sigfox
has set up as an alternative network
operator, with base stations deployed in 70
countries using proprietary standards and a
cloud infrastructure.
3GPP LtE specifications addressing the Iot
space have two variations: Long term
Evolution for Machines (LtE-M) for services
up to 1M bit/s and the NB-Iot for low
bandwidth and low power services. these
are aligned with the evolutionary path
leading to the corresponding 5G services
and the major mobile providers in the uK
have already launched or plan to launch NB-
Iot based services.
It is important to realise that the network is
but one component of an “Iot” solution and
that integrating sensors, network,
applications and systems into a coherent
solution will require considerable systems
integration skills and investment.
Turn the page for the full article.
ANY COMMENTS?
Write in with your news, views and
comments at the usual address (see p3)
or email us on letters@theitp.org.
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18 Ed SMITh

WIRELESS BEYOND
MOBILE AND WI-FI
Much of the published work on radio transmission covers the main technologies of mobile (especially 5G)
and 802.11 Wi-Fi1. Radio technologies are key to making the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality; there are
many options and only a few are likely to succeed commercially. From an understanding of operational
requirements, technology evolution and spectrum utilisation, this article identifies why some technologies
fail and others succeed.

ED SMITH Radio technologies fall both inside and

outside of those available under the banner
of 3GPP (the Third Generation Partnership
Deciding factors Project) that is defining the standards for 5G.
and keys to In addressing critical success factors, it is
first necessary to consider the role of
success spectrum and its relevant properties as well
as examining the fate of some previously
well publicised radio technologies such as
WiMAX and White Space.
An understanding of low powered networks
and the competitive scenario for radio
services is key to understanding meaningful
deployment in IoT solutions. It is important to
realise that the network is but one
component of the “IoT” solution and that
integrating sensors, network, applications
and systems into a coherent solution will
require considerable systems’ integration
skills

1
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) defines a wide range of standards, those
pertaining to radio begin with the prefixes “802.11” and "802.15".
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020

Spectrum and its implications
In beginning this discussion of 5G and its
alternatives it is beneficial to look at the radio
spectrum, noting we are discussing
technologies that can have a range of
operation of a metre for Bluetooth to 18
billion kilometres for communication to
Voyager 1. Figure 1 illustrates current
spectrum usage.
While spectrum is a scarce resource and
tightly controlled, some areas are unlicensed,
for example the Industrial Scientific and
Medical (ISM) bands at 868 Mhz, 2.4 Ghz
and 5.8 Ghz which are used for a wide range
of familiar applications such as radio
microphones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and
Microwave ovens.
Radio solutions may be distinguished by a
number of characteristics:
• Range: This is a function of power and
frequency. The higher the frequency the
more “light like” radiation propagation
becomes and the more rapid the decline in
received power with distance from the
transmitter
• Rate of information transfer: in general, the
higher the frequency, the higher the data
rate achieved
• Management of information transfer
between different users and multiplexing
• Mobility considerations including cell hand
over for cellular mobile networks
• The relationship between transmitter
power and range
Spectrum is a scarce and finite resource for
which there is accelerating demand and
these characteristics are critical in assessing
how radio technologies can be deployed and
used.
Table 1, shows the power usage for various
radio applications:
having considered the nature of the radio
spectrum and frequency allocation, it is
instructive to next consider two technologies
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
WIRELESS BEYONd MOBILE ANd WI-FI 19
Figure 1: Radio spectrum alignment with ICT technology
Technology Power (W) range 470 to 790 Mhz and is interleaved
with television transmission.
Marconi (transatlantic) 200,000
White Space was used to provide a network
BBC Radio 1 60,000 of sensors across a 50-mile segment of the
Microwave Cooker 800 A14 in 2014, allowing the build-up of
congestion to be monitored and traffic flows
Macrocell 20 to be smoothed using variable speed limits
[1]. A pilot to use White Space transmission
Telstar 2 for a public broadband service was run on
Microcell 1 to 5 the Isle of Bute between April 2011 and mid-
2012, serving 8 homes from a base station
LoRaWAN 0.25 at the local exchange. The initial results from
this trial and another in Cambridge were
Picocell 0.1 to 0.25 thought to be promising, although not all
commentators agree [2].
Wireless LAN 0.1
Bluetooth 0.1 Signals in the frequency range used by
White Space can travel as far as 10km, at an
Table 1: Power usage for various radio average throughput of 22.8 Mbit/s and do
applications not need line of sight [2], however the
modems needed could cost as much as
$US1,000, although Microsoft hope to bring
which attempted to exploit recent spectrum this down to $US200.
release without commercial success.
It was not until February 2015, that Ofcom
What happened to WiMAX and White published its regulatory approach.to the
Space? management and exploitation of White
Space spectrum, thus clarifying the rules for
White Space deployment. The rise of fibre to the cabinet
White Space became available as part of the implementations and government financial
digital dividend that released part of the UhF support of rural broadband programmes
television spectrum, due to the more efficient would have improved the attenuation issues
encoding of digital TV signals when limiting terrestrial solutions and reduced the
compared with their analogue equivalents. In number of homes benefiting from White
the UK White Space occupies the frequency Space. This is supported by reports, that BT
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20 Ed SMITh
felt that the number of customers needing
this had reduced and those remaining could
be served by other means. It is likely that this
is a case of a niche solution losing traction
through multiple factors, rather than one
single reason. Nonetheless there are still a
number of smaller companies in the UK
offering these services in rural locations and
others including Microsoft offering services
overseas [2], in areas where terrestrial
services are more difficult to supply.
WiMAX
WiMAX provided both fixed and mobile radio
services, the former being covered by the
802.16d standard and the latter by 802.16e.
data rates of up to 75 Mbit/s could be
achieved using spectrum in the range 2 to 60
Ghz The modern specification utilises
spectrum in the 2 to 11 Ghz region, but
offers no protection from interference,
requiring the operator to have exclusive use
of spectrum.
Initially, Long Term Evolution (LTE) was
considered a late starter, since WiMAX had
the capability for delivering relatively high-
speed data already. WiMAX networks were
launched in Milton Keynes and Stratford
upon Avon, well before LTE was available.
however, the competitive position for the
fixed proposition was undermined, when
unregulated home broadband became
available following local loop unbundling. The
mobile WIMAX services also suffered
because the 802.16e standard was
immature and delayed, allowing LTE to seize
its market [3].
The significance and evolution of low
power networks
IoT technologies are estimated by McKinsey
to have a potential global economic value of
$US4tr to $US11tr pa in 2025 [4]. Cisco
predicts that global mobile machine to
machine (M2M) and IoT connections will rise
from 33% of connections in 2018 to 50% by
2023; a total of 14.7 billion [5].
Such predictions need to be considered
carefully given the specification within 5G of
massive Machine Type Communications
(mMTC) which target of providing a
connectivity density of the order of 1,000,000
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
nodes per km for IoT style applications.
however, there is some ambiguity over what
an IoT style application is. Some applications
need high bandwidth, with several
commentators identifying outdoor
surveillance cameras as the largest market
for 5G M2M solutions worldwide, whilst the
connected car is seen as a rapidly growing
use case. Critically, much focus is on low
power devices, which do not make sustained
and continuous use of the communications
medium. Such devices use a different
approach based on a set of networking
capabilities known as Low Power Wide Area
(LPWA).
LPWA addresses M2M applications requiring
low bandwidth, wide geographic coverage,
low power consumption, low module, and
connectivity cost with usage cases that
cellular networks alone can’t address. LPWA
is predicted to grow from 2.5% of M2M
connections in 2018 to 14% by 2023 (from
223 million to 1.9 billion connections) [5].
Ambiguities in definition of what is meant by
IoT and the variety of ways an LPWA can be
provided, make it difficult to identify the
precise impact this will have on mobile
operator revenues. Suffice to say, it looks
very significant and as will be shown, there
is considerable competition for this revenue.
The development of LPWA networks is
derived from the concepts of Bluetooth and
the work of the IEEE 802.15 committee. The
standard for low rate LANs using radio
systems demanding low power and long
battery life is specified in 802.15.4. The
Zigbee implementation uses unlicensed 868
and 985 Mhz, spectrum and is based on this
standard, providing either 1 channel at 20
kbit/s at 868 Mhz or 10 channels with a
throughput of 40 kbit/s at 985 Mhz, which in
Europe is in the bandwidth region allocated
to GSM and therefore cannot be used. There
is also a variant that provides 250 kbit/s
using spectrum at 2.4 Ghz. The standard has
a power rating of 1 mW and a physical range
of 250m for the 2.4 Ghz version and several
km for the 868 Mhz version. The rate of fall
off of signal with distance is directly
proportional to the product of the frequency
and the distance between the transmitter
and receiver.
Z-Wave is an alternative proprietary protocol
and offers tightly controlled device
interoperability from a limited number of chip
suppliers. Both ZigBee and Z-Wave are low
power and low bandwidth and often need a
bridging device to connect to an IP network.
It’s likely that the industry will move towards
cheap to implement IP based connectivity,
which is likely to attract significant
marketing effort.
Narrowband Contenders
Unlicensed Spectrum
A distinction can be made between two
types of application: connected cars and
autonomous vehicles that need high
bandwidth, secure, low latency networks;
and less intensive applications, which will
send less data, infrequently and will tolerate
a lower service quality and throughput. An
ideal Low Power Wide Area network
(LPWAN) would have: long range (15-20 km),
support for millions of nodes, long battery life
in excess of 10 years, very low cost and
globally available radio frequencies in a
narrow band. For higher bandwidth devices,
without these requirements LTE is
considered to be the best solution.
The 3 biggest contenders in the LPWAN
space are LoRaWAN, Sigfox and Narrowband
Internet of Things (NB-IoT), with telecoms
suppliers focussing on the last of these.
Whilst LoRaWAN and Sigfox use the same
frequency range, they use different types of
spread spectrum transmission techniques to
limit the impact of radio interference. They
also differ in that Sigfox is controlled by a
single company, whereas LoRaWAN is
consortium driven, with over 100 network
operators already involved together with
Cisco and IBM. NB-IoT has been specified
by 3GPP and uses a subset of the LTE
standards. All three seek to meet the low
power WAN objectives of low cost, low
power consumption and hence low battery
life, whilst supporting a high connection
density.
The principal radio technologies likely to be
deployed in IoT Solutions are summarised in
Table 2. Whilst these technologies offer the
kind of low data rate and low-cost
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WIRELESS BEYONd MOBILE ANd WI-FI 21

Technology Frequency Data rate Range Topology

Z-Wave 868 Mhz 100 kbit/s 30m Star

2.4 Ghz, 250 kbit/s

ZigBee 10-100m Mesh
868 Mhz 20 kbit/s

100bit/s (up)
Skyfox 868 Mhz 10-50km Star
600 bit/s (down)

LoRaWAN 868 Mhz 250 bit/s -50 kbit/s 5-15km Star Figure 3: LoRaWAN protocol stack

0.5-200 kbit/s (down) distances, involves a trade-off between

NB-IoT 700-900Mhz 15km Star
0.3-180kbit/s (up)
Figure 4: Cable ship “Reliance” pictured off Rutaki passage, Rarotonga. (Courtesy Avaroa Cable Ltd)
Table 2: Principal radio technologies likely to be deployed in IoT Solutions
connectivity required in many situations, they The gateway devices are equivalent to base
are not ideal for practical implementations. stations and LoRaWAN has a range of over
10km, thus low concentrations of base
LoRaWAN solutions have been used to stations are possible. Such networks are
monitor traffic flows and use of crossings by designed to send small amounts of data
pedestrians. Thames Water has looked at periodically over often-remote networks that
this technology for their Smart Meter span many miles and use battery-powered
solutions. Other applications include: devices that need to last many years. In the
independent living, well-being, roads, pothole UK, 868 Mhz (unlicensed) spectrum is used
detection, gritting, traffic congestion, swing and it is capable of penetrating buildings.
bridges, cycle safety, monitoring of empty Such networks are suitable only for small
lets, preventative maintenance, fire safety, data packets and are unsuitable for mission
energy efficiency. critical applications, since the devices only
listen immediately after sending.
Figure 2 shows the basic components of a
low powered network based on LoRaWAN. To transmit information wirelessly over long
increasing signal power and decreasing
signal bandwidth.
The LoRaWAN protocol stack is show in
Figure 3. LoRa is the radio layer that operates
at layer 2 of the OSI stack and performs the
MAC (Media Access Control) and PhY
(Physical) functions. LoRaWAN is the overall
architecture for the network. The connectivity
between the sensor device and the gateway
is purely at the LoRa, layer 2, level and
makes no use of IP. An end device may
transmit its information to several gateway
devices, which act as a transparent bridge
converting the radio frequency packets into
IP packets for onward transmission to their
parent network server. The network server
takes the responsibility for filtering out
duplicate messages received from multiple
gateways, ensuring that the end application
only gets a single input.

Nodes only send data when they have

something to report, either on an event
driven or scheduled basis. The sending class
is a mechanism, which governs how often a
device will receive data from the network, by
limiting the time that the sensor listens for
input and therefore how much battery is
consumed by the radio frequency
communications. The application protocol
operates on an end to end basis. The LoRa
modulation (PhY) level makes use of spread
spectrum techniques which help minimise
the effects of interference. Interference is
also managed by the use of a Forward Error
Correction capability.

Figure 2: LoRaWAN deployment A recent study has examined two use cases,

ThE JOURNAL TJ
 ThE JOURNAL TJ
22 Ed SMITh
Figure 4: Sigfox architecture
based on a street lighting application
deploying 802.15.4 and an intelligent
building project based on LoRaWAN [6]. The
study identifies that by the end of 2018 LoRa
will be the first low power technology to pass
100 million connections. The IEEE 802.15.4
implementation examined used a mesh
topology akin to the technology offered by
Zigbee and this is suitable for applications
such as street lighting, where lamp posts are
normally arranged in regular pattern and
close to each other. A star topology is more
suited to the intelligent building case, where
in many cases the nodes would not be able
to detect one another. The maximum
coverage achieved was of the order 1–2 km,
significantly less than the 15 km claimed by
some vendors, in a situation where aerial
deployment was almost optimal. Valuable
implementation lessons were learnt from
this study.
Sigfox sees itself as an alternative network
operator, deploying base stations around the
world and in contrasts uses proprietary
standards. The company operates in 70
countries and the network is described as
being a cloud infrastructure, consisting of
radio and backhaul components. The
network architecture is shown in Figure 4.
Sigfox install the radio hubs, which interface
to the proprietary Sigfox cloud, which is used
to not only support the transfer of messages
but is also used by Sigfox to manage the
network.
The protocol itself has two layers, with built
in security features, including a firewall and
encryption. The radio interface is again
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
described in terms of the MAC and PhY
layers, with the former adding the protocol
bytes that identify the communicating
device, as well as authentication and
transmission error detection and recovery
capabilities. The PhY handles the physical
transmission of signals, using a Binary Phase
Shift keying modulation scheme.
Transmission is at 898 Mhz in Europe. This
provides a slow data rate of 100 bit/s,
limiting up-link communications to 140
transmissions of 12 bytes payload, and
down-link to 4 transmissions of 8 bytes
payload, per day and per device [7], with a
protocol overhead of 14 bytes. Each device
broadcasts its data three times, once on
each of three different frequencies.
Licensed Spectrum
While Sigfox and LoRa are pioneers of
LPWAN technologies, a range of alternative
Figure 5: NB-IoT network architecture
technologies are available with services
based on licensed spectrum and within the
purview of cellular standards.
Within the existing LTE specifications there
are two specifications, which address the
M2M/IoT market segment; these are Long
Term Evolution for Machines (LTE-M) which
can provide services with speeds up to 1M
bit/s and the NB-IoT service, which offers
lower speed services. Both of these services
are aligned with the evolutionary path
leading to the mMTC specification for 5G
services and were first defined in the 3GPP
(release 13) and further services are
specified in 3GPP (release 16).
The major mobile providers in the UK have
already launched or plan to launch NB-IoT
based services, addressing the same use
cases as LoRaWAN and Sigfox. NB-IoT
services utilise the same mobile spectrum as
LTE services, so can use the same core
network and following software upgrades,
can make use of the same packet core. The
general network architecture is shown in
Figure 5.
These services are targeted on the 800 Mhz
spectrum range and can make use of either
standard channels or exploit elements of the
guard bands used to separate other
channels. One design goal of NB-IoT is to
allow for a battery life of more than 10 years
in the end device. This is accommodated by
both restricting the amount of data that can

be sent and by allowing end devices to
become “invisible” to the network, only
receiving data after it has sent its own. A
second approach restricts the frequency with
which the network can poll the device for
status.
The service operates at speeds of 0.3 – 180
kbit/s, in the uplink direction and 0.5 – 200
kbit/s in the downlink direction and is
expected to have a range of up to 15km. To
achieve a 10-year battery life, the traffic
budget is 200 bytes per day on the uplink
and 20 on the downlink. high density
deployments are expected and these form a
key requirement of the design goals for the
mMTC evolutionary path, which aims for a
density of up to a million connected devices
per square kilometre and a latency of less
than 10 milliseconds.
AUTHOR’S CONCLUSIONS
This article began by looking at the
availability of spectrum and how the
properties of the spectrum segments that
are available impact on suitability for specific
applications. It is notable that spectrum in
the range 800-900 Mhz has properties that
are particularly useful to applications
needing low data rates, low transmission
power, long range and long battery life.
Whilst there is some ambiguity in the
definition of what applications fall into the IoT
classification, a substantial market can be
identified for those requiring low power. The
paper has described the evolution of low
power network devices from Bluetooth,
through the IEEE 802.15 standards family to
three contender technologies, Skyfox,
LoRaWAN and NB-IoT, with the first two
using unlicensed spectrum and very different
commercial models from the third, which is
under the control of the mobile network
operators. NB-IoT is part of an evolutionary
chain that will eventually lead to the mMTC
proposition of 5G, which the 3GPP is
currently defining; in the meantime, all three
are actively competing in the commercial
landscape and enjoying a measure of
success.
In considering which technology will be a
ABBREVIATIONS
3GPP The Third Generation
Partnership Project, who are
defining the standards for 5G
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying, a
modulation technique.
IoT Internet of Things
LPWA Low Power Wide Area.
LPWAN Low Power Wide Area Network.
LTE Long Term Evolution or 4G
mobile.
LTE-M Long Term Evolution for
Machines
M2M Machine to machine
MAC Media Access Control layer
mMTC Massive Machine Type
Communications
NB-IoT Narrowband Internet of Things
PhY Physical layer
success, it is important to realise that the
network is one component of an “IoT”
solution and that integrating sensors,
network, applications and systems into a
coherent solution will require considerable
systems integration skills. This will bring
specialist systems integrators to the
forefront, who will identify component
technologies, perform integration and roll out
and manage overall solution costs (including
network). These are the actors that will work
with communications capability providers
and ultimately decide how the market will
shake out. The rollout of Smart Meters
across Europe provides a case that
illustrates this point [8]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ed Smith recently retired
from BT, but still remains
engaged in research work
as well as being active in
FITCE, the ITP and BCS. he has worked with
major clients across a wide range of
technologies having developed his IT skills
with United Biscuits handling real time
process control systems and Elida Gibbs,
developing transaction processing
middleware and data communications
solutions. he holds BSc and Phd degrees
from the University of Leicester and a Post
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
WIRELESS BEYONd MOBILE ANd WI-FI 23
REFERENCES
1. Cellan-Jones, R., Can White Space fill
in the broadband gaps?, 29 March
2012.
2. Using “white space” TV spectrum for
rural broadband in the UK and
America, Martyn Warwick, Aug 2,
2017.
3. WiMAX Was doomed To Fail, Says UK
Broadband, Tom Jowitt, March 13,
2012,
https://www.silicon.co.uk/workspace/
wimax-was-doomed-to-fail-says-uk-
broadband-66458 (Accessed August
2020).
4. Andonian, A., Karlsson, A, Axel, A, and
Nonaka, K., Japan at a crossroads:
The 4G to 5G revolution, McKinsey,
January 2018.
5. Cisco Annual Internet Report (2018–
2023) White
Paperhttps://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/
solutions/collateral/executive-
perspectives/annual-internet-report/
white-paper-c11-741490.html
(Accessed August 2020).
6. Pasolini, G., Buratti, C. , Feltrin, L. ,
Zabini, F, de Castro, C., Verdone, R.
and Andrisano, O., Smart City Pilot
Projects Using LoRa and
IEEE802.15.4 Technologies, Sensors
(Basel). 2018 Apr; 18(4): 1118.,
doi: 10.3390/s18041118 -
7. Foubert. B. and Mitton, N., Long-
Range Wireless Radio Technologies: A
Survey, Future Internet 2020, 12, 13
8. Smith, E. A. and Ugolini M., Rolling out
Smart Meters in Europe, Journal of
The Institute of Telecommunications
Professionals, 11(1), 2017, pp. 19-24
Graduate Certificate in Commercial
Management from de Montfort University.
he is a Fellow of the British Computer
Society, a Chartered Information Technology
Practitioner, a Chartered Engineer and a
TOGAF accredited Enterprise Architect.
ThE JOURNAL TJ
 the JouRnal TJ
24 executive summaRy Recent developments in teRaheRtz communication and application to Beyond-5G netwoRks
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN
TERAHERTZ COMMUNICATION
AND APPLICATION TO BEYOND-5G NETWORKS
Moore’s Law states that with
technological advance, the
processing power of a computing
device doubles every 2 years.
As a consequence of upgrades
in digital technology, an ever-
increasing volume of data is
being processed. With ever
increasing demand for higher
data rates, it is necessary to
develop enhanced technologies
to exploit additional spectral
bandwidth.
whilst fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks
have the potential to support a maximum of
10 Gbit/s, increasing needs for high
bandwidth communication have created
demands for technologies that support even
higher carrier frequencies; one potential
solution under study across the globe is thz
communication, using frequencies that
range from 300Ghz to 10thz. if terahertz
communication is to be the new frontier,
practical deployment will however require
innovative technology solutions to overcome
propagation loss caused by a tremendous
amount of signal attenuation due to molecule
absorption of electromagnetic waves.
in 2015, the French institute of electronics
developed a thz transmission system model
that could transmit at a data rate of 32Gbit/s
across a distance of 25m at a frequency of
400Ghz. in recent years, a number of
research projects have demonstrated the
viability of transmission of 4k video content
in short-distance communication and
consistent transmission rates of 100Gbit/s
have been achieved.
For practical propagation at such huge data
Volume 14 | part 4 - 2020
transmission rates, significant improvements
in thz devices such as thz transmitters, thz
receivers and local oscillators, thz tunnel
diodes, schottky barrier diodes, will be
required. one such research area is focused
on ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-
output antenna arrays (um-mimo) based on
nano-antenna arrays. as minute deviation in
the dimensions and material properties of
devices during fabrication leads to changes in
operating band, 3d-printing technology has
become mandatory for the fabrication of such
sensitive devices. in the near future, it is
believed that optimized antennae and related
thz devices designed using 3d-printing will
make it possible to cover a distance from a
few tens of metres to 1km, with data rates
ranging from 400Gbit/s to several tbit/s.
terahertz bands can also be employed in
close-in communications, including wiring
harnesses in circuit boards and vehicles,
nano-sensors, and wireless personal area
networks. Recent enhancement in
nanotechnology have paved the way for the
invention of nanodevices and the need for
nano-networks. communication among
nanodevices was a bottle neck until the
development of graphene-based nano-
antennae. Research has proven that carbon
nanotubes, a resultant product from
graphene, can be modified to form nano
dipole antennae that can act as transceivers
to communicate electro-magnetic waves at
a frequency range within the thz band.
in addition to research into very high data
transfer rates, the application of thz
communication to the field of sensing and
imaging has attracted great interest
because of its two promising properties,
namely the ability to penetrate various types
of materials and absorption due to the
spectral characteristics of certain molecules.
such devices can be used in devices
developed to detect air pollution, changes in
temperature, and physical movement from a
distance of several metres. unlike x-rays,
thz waves are thought to be harmless to
humans as they do not produce any ionising
radiation. they can therefore be used to
create compact, user friendly portable
products in the area of sensing, short range
security screening at airport checkpoints,
mail and parcel screening and many more.
the application of terahertz communication
technology to ultra-high Bandwidth wireless
access networks is another area of
significant interest. presently, data centre
systems are connected by a huge number
of cables. even though this connectivity
provides high data performance, this
method is not optimal for cooling, scalability,
and replacing these cables with ultra-high
Bandwidth wireless access networks could
provide considerable opportunity for power
optimization.
the race for 5G networks, the establishment
of 5G standards and the proliferation of
mmwave deployment is opening the
floodgates in terms of demand for ever
increasing wireless bandwidth. thz
communication is an emerging technology
that can be implemented in Beyond-5G
networks to meet such demand in a number
of areas. the technology has been in
development for more than a decade and
greatly accelerated research in recent years
into thz bands will inevitably lead to
practical deployment.
See opposite for the full article.
ANY COMMENTS?
write in with your news, views and
comments at the usual address (see p3)
or email us on letters@theitp.org.
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A. VIJAy, K. UMAdEVI REcENT dEVELOpMENTS IN TERAHERTz cOMMUNIcATION ANd AppLIcATION TO BEyONd-5G NETWORKS 25

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN
TERAHERTZ COMMUNICATION
AND APPLICATION TO BEYOND-5G NETWORKS
Terahertz (THz) Communication1 can support far greater bandwidths than millimetre-wave
(mmWave)2 technology and is seen as attractive for implementations of “Beyond-5G networks”. This
article provides an overview of current research to increase range and enhance data rates in THz
communication networks, improvements in antenna array design through the use of Ultra-Massive
Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (UM-MIMO) technology and potential major applications.

Moore’s Law states that with technological

development, the speed and capacity of a
computing device doubles every two years.
As a consequence, digital technology is
constantly upgraded with an ever-increasing
volume of data being processed. Such data
must be communicated across the globe
inevitably compromising the processing
speed of personal and professional digital
processing devices.
Miniwatts Marketing Group have released
statistics on world internet usage and
population up to the end of 2019 which
show that 4.5 billion people across the world
rely on internet usage. This is over 10 times
the number of internet users in 2000. To
meet this increasing demand for ever higher A. VIJAY,
data rates, it is necessary to exploit
additional spectralband-width and develop
enhanced technologies.
K. UMADEVI
Meeting global
In the field of short-range communication,
the millimetre wave (mmWave) and data demand
Terahertz (THz) bands are attractive for the
support of future wireless networks because
of the huge spectral bandwidth which using the THz band as it has a much greater
ranges from 10 GHz for the mmWave to capacity to mmWave technology.
several hundred GHz for the THz band. With
adequate technology development, certain This article reviews key characteristics of
applications to meet the demand for higher THz communication, specialist antenna
data rates could be addressed effectively design techniques to improve range such as

1
The wavelength of signals ranging from 1μm to 1mm are referred to as THz bands, on which frequencies greater than proposed 5G networks can be transmitted.
2
Signals whose wavelength ranges from 1 mm to 10 mm are called mmWave, and on these, higher frequencies can be transmitted than on current 4G networks.

THE JOURNAL TJ
 THE JOURNAL TJ
26 A. VIJAy, K. UMAdEVI
Ultra-Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output
(UM-MIMO) antenna arrays and current
research topics. In conclusion, three major
fields in which the THz band could act as a
backbone for communication are discussed.
Evolution of wireless networks and
extreme technologies
What initially may have seemed to be
extreme technologies have played a
significant part in the evolution or wireless
networks. In 1979, first-generation (1G)
wireless communication was implemented
commercially in 1979 in Japan using
Advanced Mobile phone System (AMpS)
standards and a frequency division
multiplexing technique. In 1991, the
evolution of the Global System for Mobile
communications (GSM) paved the way for
second-generation (2G) wireless networks.
Enhanced data Rates for GSM Evolution
(EdGE) was the subsequent extreme
enhancement leading to 2.5G.
In 2001, the upgrade of the 2.5G handset
with the Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) led to
third-generation (3G) wireless networks and
the Evolved High-Speed packet Access
(HSpA+) standard introduced in 2003 proved
to provide the best data rates of 2Mbps in
3G. In fourth-generation (4G) networks, long-
term evolution (LTE) provided the best data
rates of 100Mbps.
Recently, in late 2019, fifth-generation (5G)
networks were launched by several network
companies, with the expectation of deploying
Open Wireless Architecture (OWA) in the near
future to enhance their data rates to a
maximum of 10 Gbit/s. Increasing needs for
bandwidth for wireless communication in
recent years have created demands for
technologies that support even higher carrier
frequencies; one such proven approach
under study across the globe is THz
communication, using frequencies that
range from 300GHz to 10THz. However,
current research and development across
industries in THz technology covers the
range starting from 100GHz to 10THz, where
the starting range is 200GHz less than the
specified standards of a THz wave.
Remarkably, latency in THz communication
Volume 14 | part 4 - 2020
Figure 1: Basic THz communication transceiver model
is minimal compared to Optical Fibre
Networks and ultimately, such technology
has the potential to replace fibre-optic
communication, as the cost of laying fibre in
rural areas is higher compared to urban
areas.
Terahertz-band Communications
In 2015, the French Institute of Electronics
developed a THz transmission system model
that could transmit at a data rate of 32Gbit/s
across a distance of 25m at a frequency of
400GHz. However, they stated that their
target is to develop a communication
network that could achieve a data rate of
56Gbit/s over 100m to 1km at a
considerably lower frequency, of 280GHz.
Thereafter, several research schemes have
been tested in recent years by transmitting
4k video content in a short-distance
communication range (50–60cm), and a
consistent transmission rate of 100Gbit/s
has been achieved throughout a long period
(60–70 hours) with an operating carrier
frequency at 300GHz, as shown in Figure
1[1].
Table 1 summarises mobile technology data
rates for different generations. Beyond-5G
wireless networks using THz communication
provide data rates that are incomparable
with those of previous generations. As
minute deviation in the dimensions and
material properties of devices during
fabrication leads to changes in operating
band, meaning that dimensional tolerance
and surface roughness need more attention
in manufacturing of devices for terahertz
communication. To address these needs in
THz band design, 3d printing technology has
become mandatory for the fabrication of
such sensitive devices, as it provides
accuracy, minimal waste of raw materials,
and power efficiency [2]. In the near future,
adopting optimized antennae along with THz
devices that are designed using 3d-printing
will make it possible to cover a distance
from a few tens of metres to 1km, with data
rates ranging from 400Gbit/s to several
Tbit/s.
THz communication provides an extended
range of coverage and increased security
when compared to mmWave deployed in 5G
networks. Table 2 provides a clear
understanding of how the features of THz
communication are related to mmWave and
Visible Light communication (VLc). To
propagate such huge data transmission
rates, UM-MIMO arrays based on Nano
Antenna Arrays are under research, and
these are discussed later in this article.
Applications that can be assisted by THz
communication include high-definition
holographic video conferencing (virtual
reality office), indoor wireless networks,
ultra-high-speed wireless data distribution in
data centres, position localization, gigabyte
Wi-Fi support for the Internet of Things (IoT),
and much more.
Ultra-Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-
Output antenna array
As path loss is directly proportional to
frequency of transmission, propagation loss
in the THz band is high. Bitty semiconductor
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Recent enhancement in nanotechnology has

Year Generation Technology Data Rate
paved the way for the invention of
1980 1G AMpS 2.5 kbit/s nanodevices. To perform a meaningful task,
1991 2G GSM 64 kbit/s these devices must communicate with each
other, which results in a demand for
2000 2.5G EdGE 384 kbit/s nanonetworks. communication among
2003 3G HSpA+ 2Mbit/s nanodevices using EM waves was a bottle
neck until the development of graphene-
2010 4G LTE 100Mbit/s based nano-antennae. Moreover, it is
2015 5G OWA 10Gbit/s expected that graphene will replace silicon
within this century. Research has proven
2019 Beyond 5G THz 100Gbit/s that carbon nanotubes (cNT), a resultant
product from graphene, can be modified to
Table 1: Wireless Technology data Rates form nano dipole antennae that can act as
transceivers to communicate electro-
Parameters Millimetre Wave THz Visible Light magnetic (EM) waves at a frequency range
Communication Communication Communication within the THz band. Studies carried out by
Frequency Used 30 - 300GHz 100GHz -10THz 430 - 790THz arranging many graphene-based plasmatic
nano-antennae in tiny footprint dimensions
Coverage Medium distance Short distance Short distance (approximately 1024 devices in 1mm2)
Power Efficiency Average Average High results in improved performance compared
to conventional transmission methods, as
Communication point to multi-point point to multi-point point to point graphene enhances the dynamic tuning of
Loss occurs due to Thermal noise Thermal noise Sun/Ambient light the resonant frequency in antenna arrays. A
typical graphene-based plasmatic nano-
Maximum Data Rates 10Gbit/s 100 - 400Gbit/s 15 - 35Gbit/s
antenna arrays containing 1,024 antennae is
shown in Figure 2. Every antenna in the
Table 2: comparison of THz communication with mmWave and VLc
array can be adjusted individually to operate
devices3 designed for THz communication metre. Much research is now focused on within a specific frequency, and
have restrictions in power usage. These two UM-MIMO communication based on nano- simultaneously, the entire array of antennae
drawbacks result limited transmission antennae as a solution to overcome this can be governed collectively.
distances of less than approximately one limitation [3].
Since such a setup supports several
multiplexing and multi-band communication
schemes, UM-MIMO communication
Systems will become essential to achieve
communication distances of a few tens of
metres for THz band communication. Future
wireless communication areas that will
require UM-MIMO based on nano-antennae4
include the Internet of Nano-Things,

Figure 2: Graphene based

nano-antenna arrays containing 1,024
antennae

3
Semiconductor devices whose dimensions are in nanometres are generally termed as bitty semiconductor devices.
4
Antennae designed for data transfer at a dimension of approximately 800nm.
5
An array of reflecting elements that can be easily fixed in the walls of buildings so to reflect the signals to the users via UM-MIMO antennae.
THE JOURNAL TJ
 THE JOURNAL TJ
28 A. VIJAy, K. UMAdEVI
Industrial approach towards
sensing and imaging
Several industries are developing
products and pursuing research in the
field of sensing and imaging based on
the THz band. One such company is
TeraSense [6], which has developed
products for use in the security
screening of small pack-ages, as
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Security screening of small
packages (courtesy TeraSense)
The company has also developed a
short-range security screening system
that can scan a farer subject at a
maximum distance of 6 metres, as
shown in Figure 4. Notably, several
researches are ongoing with the aim of
increasing the sensing and imaging
distance.
Figure 4: Short-range security screening
system (courtesy TeraSense)
ensuring secured communication in military
and defence, 5G+ cellular networks, high-
speed wireless local area networks, Large
Integrated Surfaces (LIS)5, and many more.
Applications in THz Band
The discussion of THz communication and
antenna design now leads to a focus on
three major applications of this technology.
First, we begin with the possibilities of
remote sensing and imaging using the THz
Volume 14 | part 4 - 2020
band. Next, we present the current research
on THz component design towards ultra-high
band wireless access networks. Finally, we
explain how LIS will enhance the UM-MIMO
THz communication networks.
Remote Sensing and Imaging
In addition to research into data transfer in
Tbit/s, THz communication in sensing and
imaging has attracted numerous studies and
development effort because of its two
promising properties, namely, penetrating
materials of various types and absorbing the
spectral characteristics of molecules. Hence
UM-MIMO can be used to detect air
pollution, changes in temperature, and
physical movements in remote locations of
several metres apart with respect to the
subject [5].
THz waves are thought to be harmless to
humans as, unlike X-rays, they do not
produce any ionising radiation. They can also
be used to create a compact and portable
product which is thus user friendly. THz
devices are easy to customize, and the cost
of manufacturing is very low. These
properties have led to the development of
many products based on the THz band in the
area of sensing, supporting short range (3 –
6m) applications such as security screening
(e.g., airports, checkpoints, public places,
customs checkpoints, train stations,
subways, VIp locations, border-crossings),
THz imaging for mail and parcel screening
(e.g. mail screening for drug detection),
pharmaceutical applications (e.g. quality
control in pill production), and many more.
Utilization distance can be increased by
means of UM-MIMO nano-antenna
communications as a result of recent
research into improving distance for
communication devices. In addition to
sensing and imaging, such nano-antenna
UM-MIMO arrays can also be used for
transmission.
Ultra-High Bandwidth Wireless Access
Networks
presently, data centre systems such as
servers are connected by a huge number of
cables. Even though this connectivity
provides high data performance, this method
is not optimal for cooling, scalability, and
higher-dynamic workloads. Replacing these
cables with wireless THz connections will
provide considerable improvement in
aspects of power optimization.
Since terahertz communication has attracted
huge attention for its promising high data
rates, its reduced coverage distance, which
is due to the fact that its signals are rapidly
absorbed by air, becomes a bottleneck. To
overcome this issue, improvements in
existing THz components or new, extremely
unique designs for THz devices are
necessary. One such project, funded by the
European Union, is Terapod which focuses
on designing THz devices such as THz
transmitters, THz receivers, local oscillators
that supports THz frequencies, THz Tunnel
diodes, Schottky barrier diodes, and many
more to enhance ultra-high bandwidth
Wireless Access Networks which use the
THz band.
Initially, the Terapod program focused on
combining several THz transmitters with
antennae to increase their power and create
steerable beams. Furthermore, the project
team brings the specialist skills needed to
robustly package these components.
Additionally, the team focuses on how to
evaluate the behaviour of these new devices
and model real-world scenarios based on
simulations. Above all, the team is working to
design protocols to enhance the connectivity
of THz components, in particular those that
have physical and datalink layers. Finally,
they will demonstrate the use of ultra-high
bandwidth THz wireless networks in a data-
centre network model.
Large Integrated Surfaces (LIS)
Beyond-5G networks are also considered
viable in the creation of cost-effective smart
infrastructure to support continuous,
consistent high-speed data transmission
rates. Large Integrated Surfaces (LIS) provide
an optimised technique to achieve these
requirements. This allows the base station
(BS) to establish a connection to users in
blind-spot regions, which increases the
antennae gain of UM-MIMO antennae, as
less power is required to transmit and
interference is largely reduced. It is best

REcENT dEVELOpMENTS IN TERAHERTz cOMMUNIcATION ANd AppLIcATION TO BEyONd-5G NETWORKS
Figure 5: Architecture of UM-MIMO base station supported by Large Integrated Surface
suited for indoor and outdoor environments.
A typical block diagram (see Figure 5) expl-
ains the operation of UM-MIMO base station
(BS) with LIS. The operation works based on
three types of connections: first, the con-
nection established between the UM-MIMO
base station and the LIS; second, the
connection between the LIS to the end user
of the network; and finally, the connection
established directly between the UM-MIMO
base station and the end user of network [4].
As LIS provides a perfect line of sight to all
end users and the components of antennae
are easy to use and place over the area of
LIS, it remains a promising technique to
support UM-MIMO for Beyond-5G
networks.
AUTHORS’ CONCLUSIONS
THz communication is an emerging
technology that can be implemented in
Beyond-5G networks. The technology has
been in development for more than a
decade, but the establishment of 5G
standards greatly accelerated research on
THz due to the higher bandwidth and
extremely high data rates. In this article
experimental research and Industrial
approach to increase transmission radius
and data rates have been discussed
effectively. Notably, the three THz
applications presented above are cost
effective and easy to implement. This article
has provided an overview of recent progress
and ideas in implementing THz commun-
ication, including major THz applications and
their future applications.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
A. Vijay is pursuing his ph.d.at Anna
University, chennai, India part time whilst
working as an
Assistant professor in
the department of
Electronics and
communication
Engineering at Ambal
professional Group of
Institutions, palladam,
India. His area of interest includes Broadband
Wireless communications, cooperative and
Secure Wireless communications and
cognitive Radio Systems and Artificial
Intelligence. He has published several
research articles and won an outstanding
researcher award in March 2020.
Dr. K. Umadevi obtained her ph.d. in Anna
University, Tamil Nadu,
India. She is a profes-
sor in the department
of Electronics and
communication
Engineering at Seng-
unthar Engineering
college, Tiruchengode,
India. Her areas of interest include power
Electronics, Electrical Machines, Finite
Element Method, Microprocessors and
Microcontroller, Embedded systems, IoT and
Electrical drives. She has won several
awards and honours for her excellence in
Academics and has also applied for a patent
on an “Automated Waste Segregating and
Recycling Machine”.
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
29
REFERENCES
1. c. castro, R. Elschner, T. Merkle and
c. Schubert. 100Gbit/s Terahertz-
Wireless Real-Time Transmission
Using a Broadband digital –
coherent Modem. IEEE 2nd 5G
World Forum (5GWF), dresden,
Germany, 2019, pp.399-402.
2. Bing zhang, Wei chen, yanjie Wu,
Kang ding and Rongqiang Li,
Review of 3d printed Millimetre-
Wave and Terahertz passive
devices. Hindawi International
Journal of Antennas and
propagation, Vol 2017, pp-1-10,
July 2017.
3. Sakib Adnan and Md. Osman Goni.
Graphene Nanoribbon based
Antenna for Terahertz Band
communication. International
conference on Electrical
Information and communication
Technology (EIcT), Khulna,
Bangladesh, 2015. pp.389-393.
4. Xiaojun yuan, ying-Jun (Angela)
zhang, yuanming Shi, Wenjing yan
and Hang Liu. Reconfigurable–
Intelligent-Surface Empowered 6G
Wireless communications:
challenges and Opportunities.
arXiv:2001.00364 [cs.IT]. Jan
2020.
5. Alice Faisal, Hadi Sareddeen,
Hayssam dahrouj, Tareq y. Al-
Naffouri and Mohamed-Slim
Alouini. Ultra-Massive MMO
Systems at Terahertz Bands:
prospects and challenges.
arXiv:1902.11090v3 [eess. Sp]. Oct
2019.
6. TeraSense terahertz group,
http://terasense.com/terahertz-
technology/.
ABBREVIATIONS
THz Terahertz communication
mmWave Millimetre wave
UM-MIMO Ultra-Massive Multiple-Input
Multiple-Output
LIS Large Integrated Surface
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 tHe JouRNal TJ
30 executive suMMaRy
MOBILE RADIO ACCESS
NETWORKS (RAN):
MEETING CHALLENGES FOR 5G EVOLUTION AND BEYOND
Increasing the capacity of mobile
radio access networks in a cost-
effective manner has been a
challenge for successive
generations of mobile networks.
As connectivity requirements
evolve from “human to human”
to “machine to machine”, it is
inevitable that customer demand
will drive new approaches to
meeting diverse capacity and
service requirements.
data volumes have continued to grow across
both fixed and mobile networks, with
increasing customer demand for video
content and an expectation that additional
data will be delivered for the same price, or
less than current tariffs. Future data volumes
will no longer be limited by the limits of
human consumption and machine to
machine communication, ranging from
distributed sensors to control of industrial
machines, will increasingly drive network
design. economics dictate that these new
services will be carried on a single RaN
infrastructure.
Historically, the most cost-effective way of
providing mobile coverage for relatively few
customers was to site antennas on high
towers and rooftops. the lower the
frequency, the greater the range of coverage
and early network rollouts focused on
building high towers, with radio equipment
operating at the lowest frequencies available,
which in europe were at 900 and 1800MHz.
with initial coverage in place, there are three
primary ways to meet demand for growth.
the first is to increase existing base station
capacity through spectrum acquisition. the
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
second is to build more base stations. the
third is to improve the traffic carrying
capability of the existing spectrum through
technical innovation.
building more base stations is the most
expensive approach to capacity uplift. whilst
moving off rooftops to deploy many more
base stations at street level provides a step
gain in capacity, it comes at a cost and as a
result, small cell deployments in the uk have
been relatively limited to date. with 5G and
predictions of ever-increasing traffic growth,
there has recently been renewed interest in
ultra-dense small cell networks. in the uk,
converged mobile/ wi-Fi inter-operability
solutions using an existing network
comprising millions of public and private wi-
Fi access points offers an attractive
alternative approach to a denser mobile RaN
providing satisfactory quality of service can
be maintained.
improving the traffic carrying capability of
spectrum, or “spectrum efficiency” is
another way of increasing RaN capacity.
such an approach has been one of the key
drivers behind successive generations of
mobile network technology. as well as more
efficient modulation and signalling schemes,
5G has seen the evolution of more
complicated massive Multiple input Multiple
output (MiMo) antenna structures.
employing complex signal processing, it is
possible to take the data streams for multiple
users under the coverage area of the MiMo
antenna and by splitting the signals across
the antenna elements, achieve spectrum
reuse by forming individual beams directed
at the different users.
Massive MiMo systems, with up to 64
elements forming the antenna, are now
being rolled out in 5G networks and provide
Mobile Radio access NetwoRks (RaN)
significant increases in throughput
compared to the simpler, traditional
antennas. However, theory predicts further
improvements are possible and one area of
research is focused on improving the
efficiency of the signal processing algorithms
used to pre-code the transmissions on each
element. However, with the current
ecosystem and standards, the route to
getting a new algorithm implemented is to
encourage the chosen RaN vendor to adopt
it. this approach does not fit well with an
intent to constantly improve algorithms
through the use of artificial intelligence. the
various initiatives to define open interfaces
within the base station, which traditionally
has been considered to be a single functional
block, should enable more rapid algorithm
development.
decomposing the RaN, also referred to as
“disaggregation” opens up the opportunity
for different suppliers to provide different
hardware and software components to
assemble tailored solutions. the open Radio
access Network alliance (o-RaN), is an
operator-led initiative to define new
interfaces between base station
components, organise plugfests and enable
vendors to test interoperability. although it is
early days, there is much that remains to be
done in both technical, operational and
commercial definitions, the concepts behind
this and other initiatives will open up multiple
possibilities for cost effective, flexible, high
capacity next generation RaNs.
See opposite for the full article.
ANY COMMENTS?
write in with your news, views and
comments at the usual address (see p3)
or email us on letters@theitp.org.
 INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP

ADRIAN SHARPLES MObILE RADIO AccESS NETWORKS 31

MOBILE RADIO ACCESS

NETWORKS
MEETING CHALLENGES FOR 5G EVOLUTION AND BEYOND
Increasing the capacity of mobile Radio Access Networks (RANs) to meet ever increasing customer
demand in a cost-effective manner has been a challenge throughout successive generations of public
mobile networks. The choices made to date have been a compromise between technical, commercial, prac-
tical and regulatory influences. As connectivity requirements evolve from “human to human” to “machine
to machine”, new approaches to meeting diverse capacity and service requirements will be required.

When public mobile networks were launched

in the UK in the 1980s, voice was the only
service offered. Although capacity was a
consideration, it was secondary to the need
to rapidly rollout coverage.
In the early 1990s, 2nd generation (2G)
mobile networks with digital transmission
brought capacity improvements and early
data support. The reduction in handset cost
and the introduction of “Pay-as-you-go”
tariffs in 1997 led to mass market adoption
and increased pressure on available
capacity. With the evolving capability of
packet data on 2.5G and 3G between 2000
ADRIAN
and 2010, mobile radio moved away from
being a voice dominated solution, a fact
SHARPLES
accelerated by the iPhone launch of 2007, Diverse capacity
creating a data demand that was only
ultimately satisfied by the more data- and service
capable 4G.
requirements
The evolving demand for capacity
Data volumes have continued to grow across

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 THE JOURNAL TJ

32 ADRIAN SHARPLES

both fixed and mobile networks, driven in the

main by increasing customer access to video
content. The customer expectation is that
additional data will be delivered for the same
price, or less than they are currently paying
as illustrated in Figure 1 [1].

Mobile radio network operators require

continual improvements in efficiency to
control costs and to identify new revenues
through enhanced services. Across fixed and
mobile networks, data volumes will no
longer be limited by the ability of a human to
consume it. Machine to machine
communication, ranging from distributed
sensors to control of industrial machines, will
increasingly drive network requirements. Figure 1: The growth of mobile data in the UK compared to retail revenues
These include responsiveness, security and
the support of a number of devices
significantly exceeding the human
population. cost efficiency dictates that these
new services be carried on a single RAN
infrastructure, an approach already being
realised by the UK Emergency Services
Network (ESN) being carried on the EE 4G
radio network.

Starting with the new features of 5G, this

article gives examples of how the RAN will
evolve. Figure 2 illustrates the main elements
and traditional boundary of the RAN. For 2G
and 3G, the RAN includes the tower
structure, antenna and electronics located at
the base station. A controller function,
geographically separated, manages multiple
base stations. In 4G and 5G, the controller
function is integrated in the base station
equipment, with direct connection between
base stations enabling coordination.
Evolution in RAN equipment, architectures
and the industry ecosystem is inevitable as
whatever is designed today will be used for
applications that cannot currently be
envisaged.
Meeting the capacity growth challenge
Deployment of a RAN requires adequate
geographic coverage, capacity and quality of
service. In a market with several operators,
there is a commercial balance between
expanding the breadth of coverage (e.g. into
rural areas) and depth of coverage (e.g. into
buildings) compared to expanding capacity
within existing coverage.
Figure 2: Simplified RAN architecture
The most cost-effective way of providing
RAN coverage quickly in a rollout phase with
relatively few customers is to build on high
towers and rooftops. A fundamental property
of radio is that the lower the frequency, the
greater the range of coverage. Early network
rollouts therefore focused on building high
towers, with radio equipment operating at
the lowest frequencies available, which in
Europe were at 900 and 1800MHz.
With initial coverage in place, the growing
customer base drives more demand for
capacity. There are three primary ways to
meet this demand. The first is to increase
base station capacity by adding more radio
spectrum. The second is to build more base
stations. The third is to improve the traffic
carrying capability of the existing spectrum
through technical innovation.
Acquiring spectrum
The peak capacity of any radio base station
is determined by the bandwidth of available
spectrum. For the past 20 years, additional
spectrum has been made available by
telecommunications regulators via auction.
In general, new spectrum has only been
made available at higher frequencies, which
if deployed on existing base stations would
result in a smaller range. Exceptions to this
have been the release of spectrum in the
frequency bands previously occupied by
analogue TV. The UK auction in early 2021
will release spectrum at 700MHz and 3.6-
3.8GHz.

Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020


Generation Transmission
Technology
2G GMSK1
3G WcDMA 2
4G OFDMA3
5G OFDMA
Table 1: comparison of mobile radio air interfaces
Building more base stations
building more base stations is the most
expensive approach to capacity uplift. In
urban centres where capacity growth is
greatest, rooftop rental costs are high. Whilst
moving off rooftops to deploy many more
base stations as street level “small cells”
provides a step gain in capacity, it comes at
a cost. Each small cell has its coverage area
bounded by surrounding buildings, limiting
the amount of traffic it can capture before
traffic density grows. The costs of small
cells, including site acquisition, installation
and connection back to the network are
higher per unit of coverage than a rooftop
“Macrocell”. As a result, small cell
deployments in the UK have been relatively
limited to date.
With 5G the expected traffic growth has
renewed interest in “ultra-dense networks”
of small cells. One point to recognise is that
the UK already has a network of millions of
predominantly in-building small radio base
stations in the form of public and private Wi-
Fi access points which carry data from
handsets supporting multiple radio
technologies. There is a trade-off between
the provision of additional capacity by
building a denser mobile RAN or by
delivering increased network convergence
between mobile and Wi-Fi. That trade-off is a
combination of a number of criteria including
the maintenance of quality of service.
In general terms, mobile networks have been
designed to give an operator full scope to
manage quality of service. The spectrum
used is exclusive to the operator, the location
and operation of the base stations are the
responsibility of the operator, the technology
to support mobility and the scheduling of
1
GMSK - Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying
2
WcDMA - Wideband code Division Multiple Access
3
OFDMA - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
4
3GPP Frequency Range 1 (operating at frequencies below 6GHz)
Maximum Radio Average Spectral
Bandwidth Efficiency (b/s/Hz)
200 kHz 0.16
5 MHz 0.80
20 MHz 1.90 (2x2 MIMO)
100 MHz 4
2.84 (4x4 MIMO)
4.80 (16x16 MIMO)
traffic onto the radio interface is controlled
by the network. In contrast Wi-Fi operates in
spectrum shared between uncoordinated
access points with differing access controls
and poorer mobility support. Serving mobile
users in high traffic areas subject to
congestion is what mobile networks were
designed for. In areas with a lower user
density and lower mobility, the lower costs
and ubiquity of Wi-Fi come to the fore.
converging the two in a service offering to
gain the benefits of both is an area of
continuing development [2].
Technical improvement of the RAN
Improving the traffic carrying capability of
spectrum, or “spectrum efficiency”
measured in bits per second per Hertz
(b/s/Hz), has been one of the primary
reasons for changes in “generation”. Each
new generation introduced a new
modulation scheme and signalling that are
not backward compatible, requiring RAN
equipment and multi-mode handsets to also
support previous generations.
New generations also improved the flexibility
of spectrum to support higher data rates by
allocating varying bandwidths to different
customers on an instantaneous basis. For
5G, the radio protocol is an evolution rather
than revolution, with Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) remaining
but with increased flexibility by allowing
wider channel bandwidths and removing
some of the 4G rigidity in defining physical
signals and channels. The main changes in
5G radio have been the native support of
more complicated antenna structures
supporting Massive Multiple Input Multiple
Output (MIMO), which is discussed in detail
below.
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
MObILE RADIO AccESS NETWORKS 33
A comparison of the transmission
technology, maximum channel bandwidth
and spectral efficiencies of different
generations is shown in Table 1. There are
several definitions of spectral efficiency from
the maximum that can be derived for a
single user in good radio conditions to the
average that can be achieved across a base
station area serving multiple users in varying
radio conditions. The figures in Table 1 are
averages across a base station area
published by GSM Association (GSMA) [3].
Will new applications drive a change in
the RAN ecosystem?
The need to control the cost of delivering a
gigabyte of traffic has resulted in drives for
commercial as well as technical efficiency.
Over the past two decades the global RAN
equipment market has consolidated,
rewarding economies of scale, resulting in a
small number of large vendors. When all
operators in all markets are selling similar
services, this is a logical conclusion provided
that sufficient vendor competition remains.
As new data applications are increasingly
tailored to specific business and consumer
user communities, with specific
requirements that vary with geography, an
alternative ecosystem that promotes
innovation and differentiation could emerge.
A preference for a wider RAN supply
ecosystem has also been identified at
government level. The diversity of supply of
networks that form critical national
infrastructure is seen as mitigating issues
that might arise with heavy reliance on a
single vendor [4].
Advanced antenna structures and
massive MIMO
One of the main innovations to 5G radio is
the native support of Massive MIMO from
day one. This involves deploying a complex
antenna, formed from an array of individual
elements. The term “Massive” MIMO reflects
the support of much larger antenna arrays
than earlier MIMO implementations. Each
element is a compact antenna in its own
right, with its own transmit and receive
chains. Employing complex signal
processing it is possible to take the data
streams for multiple users under the
coverage area of the MIMO antenna and by
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 THE JOURNAL TJ
34 ADRIAN SHARPLES
Figure 3: Forming beams on a Massive MIMO
antenna
splitting the signals across the antenna
elements, form individual beams directed at
the different users as illustrated in Figure 3
[5].
Each beam is carrying information in the
same frequency band and at the same time
as other beams. In this way the spectrum
assets of the base station are being re-used
across several users in the area. It is
spectrum re-use that increases the spectral
efficiency and so the capacity of the base
station. There are many complications to the
deployment of massive MIMO in mobile
networks. The most obvious of these is that
many of the users are moving. To achieve
the re-use of spectrum requires continual
assessment of the radio path between the
base station antenna elements and all the
users. It is the difference in the radio paths
between the users and the different antenna
elements that provides the ability to
discriminate the beams.
Figure 4: Massive MIMO antenna at bT Labs,
pictured to the right of the foreground tower
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
Massive MIMO systems, with up to 64
elements forming the antenna, are being
rolled out in 5G networks and provide
significant increases in throughput
compared to the simpler, traditional
antennas. Figure 4 shows a commercial
Massive MIMO antenna mounted next to
existing passive antennas at bT Labs.
Massive MIMO theory developed over the
past quarter century predicts improvements
in spectral efficiency in excess of those
observed in the field. As always, theory
makes a number of simplifying assumptions
that will be compromised in reality (e.g.
manufacturing and installation tolerances
will erode theoretical benefits). However,
there is still sufficient gap between theory
and current practical reality to conclude that
there is opportunity for massive MIMO
systems to be evolved and improved.
One area for focus is the signal processing
algorithms. Figure 5 shows the spectral
efficiency variation with the number of
elements in the massive MIMO antenna. In
contrast to Table 1, these spectral efficiency
figures assume all users are in good
coverage to illustrate the difference between
the signal processing algorithms. The
capability of a single antenna is shown as a
benchmark. Most commercial systems are
assumed to use linear algorithms to pre-
code the transmissions on each element to
Figure 5: The difference in spectral efficiency between theory and practice
improve efficiency. The theoretical upper
limit of spectral efficiency if optimal
precoding is achievable is also shown.
Research into improving precoding
algorithms is ongoing, including the use of
Artificial Intelligence (AI) to train algorithms
based on measurements from the network.
In the current mobile network standards,
produced by the 3GPP5 standards
organisation, signal processing algorithms
remain in the domain of the equipment
vendor. In an ecosystem that has coalesced
to a small number of equipment vendors, the
detail of these algorithms will be set by the
requirements of larger markets. As service
requirements diversify, improved algorithms
could be derived using knowledge of the
type of user and their service set. For
example, within a base station coverage
area there will be truly static users, including
customers receiving home broadband from
the mobile network and IoT devices (e.g.
fixed sensors). There will also be semi-static
users, such laptop users in street cafes,
whose traffic statistics could be inferred
from their device type. Finally, there will be
fully mobile users, either pedestrians or in
vehicles.
With access to additional information it
should be possible to significantly improve
the spectral efficiency of the systems
through improving the underlying algorithms.
5
3GPP - 3rd Generation Project Partnership

Figure 6: RAN functional decomposition
Figure 7: The O-RAN architecture
An approach is needed to embed tailored AI
enabled signal processing algorithms which
can improve over time.
Open RAN: a potential ecosystem for
differentiation
With the current ecosystem and standards,
the route to getting a new algorithm
implemented is to encourage the chosen
RAN vendor to adopt it. This approach does
not fit well with an intent to constantly
improve algorithms through AI by applying
improving data sources. A solution to this
would be to define more open interfaces
within the base station, which traditionally
has been considered to be a single functional
block.
The interest in decomposing the RAN into
subcomponents has been promoted by
virtualisation of base station functions as
software instances on generic compute
platforms. 3GPP standards define the
breaking up of a 5G base station (gNodeb)
into a centralised unit (cU), distributed unit
(DU) and radio unit (RU) [6] as illustrated in
Figure 6. The cU represents the upper layers
of the protocol stack, realised in software
and, as its name suggests can be centralised
with one cU controlling multiple DUs. The
distributed unit provides lower layers of the
protocol stack and could again be realised in
software. Finally, the RU includes radio
frequency components that are frequency
specific.
Decomposing the RAN, also referred to as
“disaggregation” opens up the opportunity
for a new ecosystem model, with different
suppliers providing different hardware and
software components, to assemble tailored
solutions. A new body, the Open Radio
Access Network Alliance (O-RAN), is an
operator-led initiative defining new
interfaces between base station
components, organising plugfests and
enabling a new ecosystem of vendors to test
interoperability in this new initiative referred
to as Open RAN. Open RAN was influenced
by the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), a
collaborative industry initiative bringing
together technology and telecoms
companies to develop new network build
and deployment solutions. O-RAN has
defined an architecture with a new function,
the RAN Intelligent controller (RIc), taking
information from the interfaces and
performing radio resource management
actions. The O-RAN architecture allows for
applications to be developed by 3rd parties
and introduced onto the RIc, providing the
opportunity for differentiation of deployment
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
MObILE RADIO AccESS NETWORKS 35
and service approaches on the RAN. At the
moment the RIc considers non-real time
(non-RT) and near-real time (near-RT)
control but sets the principles for the real
time control needed by MIMO algorithms.
The O-RAN architecture is shown in Figure
7, with the O-RAN specified components O-
cU (both control and user plane), O-DU and
O-RU being refinements of the original cU,
DU, RU definitions.
Although it is early days for O-RAN and there
is much that remains to be done in both
technical, operational and commercial
definitions, the concepts behind the O-RAN
approach will open up possibilities for
innovation. Tailored solutions could be
provided by different groupings of hardware,
software and service management
algorithm suppliers.
Future innovation opportunities
cooperative coverage, where a single logical
connection is formed by combining links
between a customer device and multiple
base stations, is another way to increase
capacity and resilience by combining signals
at the edge of a base station’s coverage.
This concept is not new. From soft handover
in 3G to co-ordinated multipoint (coMP) in
4G, different flavours of the approach have
been included in the standards with varying
degrees of success. 5G includes cooperative
coverage as the multiple transmission and
reception point (multi-TRP).
New applications for cooperative coverage
include the Industrial IoT environment,
where control of machinery requires
improved resilience from devices connected
to multiple base stations. Researchers are
now considering the benefits of extending
the concept further. If massive MIMO
antennas on rooftops are made up of
multiple antenna elements that cooperate,
forming beams to minimise interference and
maximise service levels, then conceptually
these antennas could be split and the
elements distributed at street level around
an urban centre. The area would now be
covered by a single logical antenna formed
of multiple radio access points. The latency
and bandwidth requirements for the
connections to these radio access points
THE JOURNAL TJ
 THE JOURNAL TJ
36 ADRIAN SHARPLES
Figure 8: contrasting traditional cellular approaches with cell-less architectures
would be considerable, driving advances in
the connectivity products needed to support
them. This “distributed MIMO” should bring
benefits against which the additional cost
and complexity could be traded off.
A user moving through a distributed MIMO
area would not need to carry out a handover
between access points, where the radio link
with one base station is broken at the same
time as forming a new link with a
neighbouring base station, while maintaining
the end to end connection. In a distributed
MIMO architecture, the user will be
associated with an area of connection that
moves with them, in a similar way to the
beam being steered by a rooftop massive
MIMO antenna. This would break the
traditional “cellular” approach of mobile radio
that has been the assumption in all public
access mobile network architectures to date,
replacing it with “cell-less” alternatives. This
is illustrated in Figure 8, where as an
alternative to a user moving between defined
coverage areas, the user’s logical coverage
moves with them with radio access points
being added and dropped from the
connection.
before cell-less approaches can happen a
number of questions need to be answered.
The traffic carried by multiple radio links to a
single device will have to be aggregated at a
centralised point to be terminated on a core
network. At the same time that radio
architectures are considering greater
centralisation of control and aggregation,
driven by disaggregation of the RAN creating
centralised units, demands for lower latency
services are pushing application and data
storage locations from the centre out to the
edge. Where the two initiatives will meet
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
MObILE RADIO AccESS NETWORKS
REFERENCES
1. Ofcom. communications Market
Report 2020. September 2020
2. Wireless broadband Alliance & Next
Generation Mobile Networks Alliance.
RAN convergence Paper. August
2019.
3. GSMA. The benefits of Technology
Neutral Spectrum Licences. June
2019.
requires an understanding of the future
4. Department for Digital, culture, Media
service, technical and commercial
& Sport. UK Telecoms Supply chain
requirements. but with the aim being a
Review Report. July 2019
flexible, resilient, cost-effective RAN that can
be tailored and quickly reconfigured to serve 5. Ericsson White Paper. Advanced
the variety of new services operating in Antenna Systems for 5G networks.
differing geographic areas, there is clearly November 2019
much to explore and develop in the coming 6. Sutton A. 5G Network Architecture.
years. Institute of Telecommunications
Professionals Journal. Volume 12 (1).
Acknowledgements March 2018
I would like to thank my colleagues Arman
Shojaeifard, Richard Mackenzie and Anvar
Tukmanov for their contributions and ABBREVIATIONS
clarifications to this paper.
3GPP Third Generation Partnership
ABOUT THE AUTHOR project
AI Artificial Intelligence
cU centralised Unit
DU Distributed Unit
IoT Internet of Things
MIMO Multiple Input, Multiple Output
O-cU O-RAN centralised Unit
O-DU O-RAN Distributed Unit
O-RAN Open Radio access Network
Alliance
O-RU O-RAN RU
RAN Radio Access Network
RIc RAN Intelligent controller
RU Radio Unit
Adrian Sharples is the Senior Wireless
Research Manager at bT Laboratories,
leading a team of researchers to investigate
the opportunities for applying new wireless
techniques to mobile and fixed
communications.
Adrian has over 30 years’ experience
working on telecommunications access
technologies in both technical and strategy
roles. He has a PhD in telecommunications
and is a Visiting Professor at the University of
Kent. He is a chartered Engineer.

exeCutive summAry
AN OVERVIEW OF CONTENT
DELIVERY NETWORKS
When individuals visit the
world’s most popular web sites,
they are typically connecting to
some form of Content Delivery
Network (CDN) to retrieve the
data. A CDN overcomes
fundamental architectural
shortcomings of the Internet
that would otherwise make
these interactions difficult or
impossible to deliver at scale
and with good performance.
By the mid-1990s, the underlying
standards of the internet were in place but
user frustration grew with the slow
download experience. these were largely
the result of bottlenecks on paths across
the internet. if content is hosted on internet
provider A and a user is hosted on internet
provider f, the data must transit through
networks B, C, D and e and the peering
points between them. these peering points
become bottlenecked with many
thousands of users competing for the
same constrained resource.
this imbalance is also the underlying
reason for the efficacy of Distributed Denial
of service (DDos) attacks. the resources of
thousands of distributed devices easily
overwhelm a centralised service and put
an outsized burden on the servers,
networks and other centralised resources
needed to deliver the content.
A solution is to place a copy of the content
directly on the network of a user’s internet
service Provider. the general concept of
“caching” long predates CDn but CDn puts
this technique to use in a novel way. By
deploying a highly distributed set of
servers in provider networks around the
An overvieW of Content Delivery netWorks
globe, content can be delivered with better
performance, while simultaneously
reducing the load on the providers’
peering. moreover, the centralised site
hosting the content no longer needs to
scale to serve every end-user individually.
the same principle protects sites from
DDos attacks. the massive amount of
traffic generated by many thousands of
attacking devices can be easily absorbed
by a highly distributed set of CDn nodes
long before it becomes too centralised and
concentrated to manage.
While CDn is an effective solution for
solving the challenges of online content
delivery, it is also a fundamentally
necessary model. this is due to the orders
of magnitude difference in capacity and
capabilities at the edge versus at the core,
where services become more centralised.
Billions of subscriber connections, even at
modest transmission rates, sum to far
more capacity than can be available in and
out of the core of the internet.
Although the functionality described above
remains core to the benefits of CDn, more
advanced capabilities have been
developed to meet new challenges.
• Core vs edge – As the threat landscape
on the internet has evolved, mitigating
technologies have been created.
However, security technologies cannot
be deployed centrally without
themselves becoming overwhelmed. As
a result, security technologies have been
moved to the edge and are implemented
as features in the CDn.
• Dynamic content routing – there is a
small but high-value volume of content
which is dynamic and cannot be cached,
for example, an individual’s bank
statement. Dynamic content routing
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
37
improves the delivery performance of
this kind of traffic. it is possible to
sometimes find a faster path by
intentionally sending traffic through hops
of CDn nodes that take a different path
than would otherwise be found by
following the internet’s BGP (Border
Gateway Protocol).
• Streaming resiliency and
performance technologies – CDns can
employ techniques to specifically
optimise for streaming content. for
example, if the CDn is attempting to
retrieve a video segment, but detects it
is taking too long, it may launch parallel
requests through alternate paths.
• Edge computing – the edge compute
capabilities of a CDn allow complex and
custom logic to be dynamically deployed
on a per site basis, with the edge node
pulling together and operating on
information in real time, with low latency,
for delivery to the end-user.
What of the future? for all the video
viewing that is currently on the internet,
the majority is still via traditional broadcast
technologies. CDn will need to be
developed to include new dynamic ways to
bring broadcast-like efficiency to the
internet or extending the effectiveness of
the CDn in non-traditional ways. At the
same time, last mile fixed and mobile
connectivity is improving over time
exacerbating the imbalance between the
edge and the core. in-bound processing
and aggregation of this data will be a key
challenge for the next generation of CDn.
Turn the page for the full article.
ANY COMMENTS?
Write in with your news, views and
comments at the usual address (see p3)
or email us on letters@theitp.org.
tHe JournAl TJ
 The JOUrNAL TJ

38 JAmes KreTChmAr

AN OVERVIEW OF CONTENT
DELIVERY NETWORKS
One of the most critical pieces of technology that enables the Internet to function is also one of the least
well known - Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). This article provides a history and overview of
the core functionality of a CDN, as well more advanced technologies they include today, followed by an
examination of some design considerations including deployment strategy and load balancing
techniques. Finally, the future trends of CDN are discussed.
When individuals across the globe visit the Background and history of CDN
JAMES world’s most popular web sites, whether for
e-commerce, banking, streaming video or
The web before CDN
By the mid-1990s, the underlying standards
KRETCHMAR gaming, they are typically connecting to
some form of Content Delivery Network
of the Internet were in place for transmitting
information across the globe. The Internet
Functionality and (CDN) to retrieve the data. A CDN
overcomes fundamental architectural
Protocol (IP) provides the mechanism for
sending raw data to a distant system. The
future trends shortcomings of the Internet that would Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) gets the
otherwise make these interactions difficult data to the intended program running on
or impossible to deliver at scale and with that system, detects and resends lost
good performance. packets and optimises the speed of

Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020

 INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP

AN OvervIeW Of CONTeNT DeLIvery NeTWOrKs 39

transmission. The hyper Text Transmission

Protocol (hTTP) provides a framework for
transmission of named objects of data,
initially focused on web pages but now also
used extensively in other applications such
as the delivery of live and on-demand
streaming video.

Although this would seem to be all the

technology necessary for transmitting rich
data from A to B, problems emerged as
soon as the web’s popularity grew with the
general public. As early as 1996 the phrase
“The World Wide Wait” [1] appeared as user
frustration grew with the slow experience of
downloading web pages. In the following
years several highly promoted live events Figure 1: The Web without CDN
attracted so many simultaneous viewers
that sites crashed and were unavailable
[2][3]. And by the end of the decade
malicious actors were launching Distributed
Denial of service (DDos) attacks to
intentionally take sites offline [4].

While a first assumption might be to blame

the slow web experiences of the 1990s on
the slower network connections and
hardware of the time, the problems in fact
are fundamental to the architecture of the
web. slow downloads are largely the result
of bottlenecks on paths across the Internet.
If content is hosted on Internet provider A
and a user is hosted on Internet provider f,
the data must transit through networks B, C,
D and e before it arrives at its destination.
hopping through many networks like this is
the common case on the Internet which is,
in reality, composed of thousands of
independent networks (see figure 1). Data
flows between networks at peering points
and, unfortunately, it is exactly at these
peering points between providers where the
Internet becomes bottlenecked, with many
thousands of users competing for the same
constrained resource. This leads to
congestion and packet loss and ultimately a
bad experience for users.
It would similarly be tempting to blame the
older hardware of previous decades for sites
crashing under the deluge of traffic of a live
event or an unexpected flash crowd, like a
breaking news story. In reality the problem
is also fundamental: A single, centralised
Figure 2: The Web with CDN
resource cannot match one-for-one the load
generated by millions of distributed devices
in a cost-effective way. This imbalance is
also the underlying reason for the efficacy of
DDos attacks. The resources of thousands
of distributed devices being used to
overwhelm a centralised service puts an
outsized burden on the servers, networks
and other centralised resources needed to
deliver the content.
The invention of CDN
A solution to the problem of slow
transmission due to traversing congested
peering points quicky becomes evident: if a
copy of the content is placed directly on the
network of a user’s Internet service Provider
(figure 2), the user can retrieve it locally,
avoiding congested hops out to other
networks. The content is retrieved more
quickly, which leads to a better user
experience, and this traffic is also offloaded
from constrained peering links, freeing them
up for other use.
The general concept of “caching” (storing a
local copy of data to avoid unnecessary
retransmission) long predates CDN. But the
invention of CDN puts this technique to use
in a novel way. The first commercially
successful CDN was pioneered by Akamai
Technologies in 1998 [5][6]. By deploying a
highly distributed set of servers in provider
networks around the globe, Akamai’s
content provider customers could deliver
their sites to end-users with better

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40 JAmes KreTChmAr
performance, while simultaneously reducing
the load on the providers’ peering.
A highly distributed CDN also solves the
other two problems of the early web. By
distributing end-user load to CDN nodes, the
centralised site hosting the content no
longer needs to scale to serve every end-
user individually. This alleviates the problem
of overload and crashes during live events or
unexpected flash crowds. Thousands of CDN
nodes can serve millions of users the
content originating from a single server.
The same principle protects sites from DDos
attacks. The massive amount of traffic
generated by many thousands of attacking
devices can be easily absorbed by a highly
distributed set of CDN nodes that receive the
traffic long before it becomes too centralised
and concentrated to manage. The more
highly distributed the CDN, and the more
attack capacity available, the larger the
DDos attack it can withstand.
The core vs the edge
While it is clear this distributed model of
CDN is presently an effective solution for
solving the challenges of online content
delivery, it is also a fundamentally necessary
model. This is due to the orders of
magnitude difference in capacity and
capabilities at the edge of the Internet
versus at the core, where services become
more centralised. Billions of subscriber
connections, even at modest transmission
rates, sum to far more capacity than can be
available in and out of the core of the
Internet. for this reason, the delivery must
be distributed out to where the available
capacity is: at the edge, close to subscribers.
In retrospect, considering that almost all
other pieces of Internet technology are
decentralised in whole or in part, it is not a
surprise that content delivery must be as
well.
Advanced CDN functionality
The web has evolved a great deal since the
1990s and, although the functionality
described above remains core to the
benefits of CDN, more advanced CDN
capabilities have been additionally
developed to meet new challenges. In this
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
Figure 3: Attack defence with CDN
section a small selection of more advanced
capabilities is briefly introduced.
Edge security technologies
As previously described, a CDN’s base
functionality can protect a site from DDos
attacks by absorbing attack traffic in a
distributed manner before it becomes too
concentrated to manage. As the threat
landscape on the Internet has evolved,
however, DDos is no longer the only
significant risk to a site’s security. Attacks
such as sQL (structured Query Language)
injection attempt to compromise backend
databases via specially crafted malicious
requests. Automated bots probe a site to
test their users’ credentials. Code included
from 3rd parties is manipulated to steal
private data. Technologies have been
created to mitigate these and other types of
attacks but, in the same way a site’s content
cannot be served centrally without
overwhelming content servers, neither can
security technologies be deployed centrally
without themselves becoming
overwhelmed. As a result, security
technologies like Web Application firewall
(WAf), bot management and 3rd party script
protection have been moved to the edge
itself and are implemented as features in
the CDN (see figure 3).
Dynamic content routing
The majority of the traffic served by a CDN
is identical to all users who request it, which
is why caching is effective. A high definition
video or the high resolution product images
of an e-commerce site can be transported
across the Internet once, and then served
repeatedly for many end-users from a local
node. however, there is a small but high-
value volume of content which is dynamic.
A personalised bank statement or an
Application Programming Interface (API) call
may be pointless to store for later
retransmission, but there are ways to
improve the delivery performance of this
kind of dynamic, un-cacheable traffic.
Among the more interesting examples is to
find faster, better performing paths across
the Internet than would be typically provided
by BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) – the
Internet’s own routing system. If a CDN has
nodes sufficiently dispersed throughout the
Internet, it is possible to sometimes find a
faster path by intentionally sending traffic
through hops of CDN nodes that take a
different path than would otherwise be
found by following the Internet’s BGP. (Note,
however, that BGP is followed in hopping
from server to server). Keeping in mind that
BGP’s performance metric is primarily
based on hop count through networks,
without consideration of packet loss or
latency, in addition to the fact that BGP is
often configured to optimise first for
business rules and cost optimisation, it is
not surprising that more optimal paths can
be found.
Streaming resiliency and performance
technologies
When delivering streaming video, what is of
utmost importance is for a video player to

receive the data it needs on time. The major
modern streaming protocols, whether live or
on-demand, divide a video into short
segments, each some small number of
seconds long. As a video plays, the player
continuously requests upcoming segments
a bit in advance and it maintains a small
buffer of these soon-to-be-needed
segments. This leaves some extra time in
case there is a problem retrieving a
segment, but it is not very much extra time.
The buffer is relatively small, otherwise
playback would be delayed. If for any
reason a player falls behind in receiving
segments in a timely manner, it will be
forced to either downgrade the quality of the
video or interrupt playback to the user.
CDNs, which are used extensively in the
delivery of streaming video content, can
employ techniques to specifically optimise
for this delivery context. for example, if the
CDN is attempting to retrieve a video
segment, whether from another CDN node
or from the origin hosting the content, but
the CDN detects it is taking too long to
retrieve the segment, it may launch parallel
requests through alternate paths in an
attempt to more aggressively deliver the
segment to the player on time. The CDN
may also dynamically learn which segments
are likely to be requested next during
playback, and ensure those segments are
locally available in advance of the player
requesting them. This technique is referred
to as “pre-fetching” content.
Edge computing
even in the earliest days of CDN, it was clear
that content providers would need to apply
different rules for a CDN’s behaviour when
delivering different kinds of content. The
most basic example being whether a piece
of content was expected to remain
unchanged for a long period of time (in
which case it should be cached for a long
period of time) or whether the content would
change frequently (in which case it should
only be cached for a short period of time).
What began as defining a small, static set of
parameters for controlling the delivery of
individual pieces of content quickly exploded
into programmable edge configurations for
AN OvervIeW Of CONTeNT DeLIvery NeTWOrKs
content providers’ sites, in addition to new
standards like edge side Includes (esI). The
edge compute capabilities of a CDN allow
complex and custom logic to be dynamically
deployed on a per site basis, with the edge
node pulling together and operating on
information in real time, with low latency, for
delivery to the end-user. These edge
computing capabilities for CDNs were
developed in the early 2000s; more recently
CDNs have added support for additional
programming languages and environments,
to make the functionality more convenient
for today’s developers.
CDN architectural considerations
Distributed systems design
As CDNs are distributed systems by their
very nature, their architecture must
incorporate distributed systems principals
and algorithms. Thus, the software design of
a CDN is equally as important as the
physical deployment, although the software
design is generally a more specialised and
complicated technology to create.
In particular, the more distributed a CDN is,
the more failures will occur that exercise the
challenges posed by distributed systems. To
pick one simple example to illustrate the
point: imagine a CDN node in a network
somewhere in the world stops receiving
communications from the rest of the global
network. from this one node’s point of view,
how does it know if this failure is due to
locally isolated networking problems versus
a broader CDN communications systems
failure? If the former, it may be best for the
node to take itself out of service, if the latter,
it may be better to continue providing
service even under degraded conditions.
This problem is one starting point example
in a large set of problems distributed
systems must address. Because of the
complexity in designing high availability
distributed systems, it is generally helpful to
think of this as the hard part of CDN design.
Physical deployment and load balancing
strategies
Designing the physical deployment plan for
an Internet-wide CDN depends not just on
factors of capacity, reach or scaling.
Although these all remain critical, the
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
41
physical deployment strategy is also
inextricably tied to the design of the CDN’s
load balancing and footprint management
strategy. The result is that today there are
basically two models of CDN deployments
on the Internet: moderately distributed
CDNs, deployed into up to perhaps a
hundred locations, and highly distributed
CDNs, deployed in thousands of locations.
A moderately distributed CDN is less
complex to operate, at some cost to
performance and scalability. With fewer
deployments, the selection of which
deployment should serve a request is
simplified. fewer choices are available, and
IP Anycast (a straight-forward BGP-based
technique for directing end-users to servers)
may offer sufficient resolution. footprint
management of content may also be
simplified: fewer, larger deployments can
hold more of a site’s catalogue of content
and knowing statically where to expect most
content to be makes it easier to manage.
however, a moderately distributed CDN is
much less often on the same provider’s
network as an end-user, which means many
users will not experience the same
performance benefits of a highly distributed
CDN. The use of IP Anycast also makes load
balancing less fine-grained, which may
result in the CDN needing to over-deploy to
handle surge traffic.
A highly distributed CDN requires more
sophisticated software and systems to
operate. With thousands of locations, IP
Anycast is no longer sufficient for directing
end-users to servers and other techniques
must be employed to direct individual
requests to the closest deployment (for
example, through responding differently to
Domain Name server (DNs) requests on a
per-request basis). As many of the
thousands of locations in a highly distributed
CDN typically will not have as much storage
as a more centralised model could deploy in
one place, it becomes necessary to manage
footprint more carefully to ensure the most
popular content is stored close to end-users.
This introduces complexity in the CDN
design. On the other hand, being closer to
end-users brings better performance and
off-load of peering links than a moderately
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42 JAmes KreTChmAr
deployed CDN. In addition, per-request load
balancing offers to two other benefits: first,
by implementing a load feedback system,
each node can be driven to near its full
capacity. since any next request can be sent
somewhere else, there is no need to leave
an unnecessarily large buffer of unused
capacity, which is costly and inefficient.
secondly, if the local demand exceeds the
local capacity, users can be directed
specifically to a “next-best” node, perhaps
in a neighbouring city. This offers a graceful
way to handle surges in traffic, with users
stage-by-stage being sent to the next-best
performing CDN node.
The future of CDN
While the future is notoriously hard to
predict, there a small number of trends
which are key to understanding the future of
CDN. Chief among them are the predicted
growth in traffic and the continued evolution
of the last mile.
While Internet traffic continues to grow in
general, we expect we are at the very
early stages of what’s to come. for all the
video viewing that is currently on the
Internet, it is still the case that the majority
of viewing is via traditional broadcast
technologies. A simple back-of-the-
envelope calculation can help understand
what the world may look like in the long
run with more content and more users
online. Imagine a time in the future when
some substantial percentage of the
world’s population is simultaneously
watching high definition streaming video.
If we imagine 2.5 billion people each
watching a 10 mbit/s stream (typical for
high definition) that would be 2.5e9 x
10e6 = 2.5e16 = 25,000 Tbit/s. To put this
in context, the peak traffic delivered from
Akamai’s global platform in march 2020
was 167 Tbit/s. The conclusion is not only
will CDN play an increasingly important
role in the delivery of online content, but
we may need to create additional new
technologies to accommodate such a
mind-bogglingly large number. This may
include new dynamic ways to bring
broadcast-like efficiency to the Internet or
extending the effectiveness of the CDN in
non-traditional ways.
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
AN OvervIeW Of CONTeNT DeLIvery NeTWOrKs
At the same time, last mile connectivity is
improving over time. more of the world is
becoming connected and technologies like
5G are promising faster connections. This
puts additional pressure on the system by
exacerbating the imbalance between the
edge and the core, and users will demand
more from it. simultaneously, improvements
to the last mile, along with other industry
trends, are likely to drive an increase in
Internet of Things traffic. In-bound
processing and aggregation of this data will
be another challenge for the next generation
of CDN.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Kretchmar is vice President and
CTO for Akamai’s media and Carrier
Division, driving technical strategy for
delivering the highest quality media at scale
over the Internet and working with
customers and partners whose challenges
require technology that’s beyond the leading
edge of the industry today. he also runs
innovation programs with Akamai’s telco
carrier partners to advance next generation
technologies for delivering content on the
Internet.
Previously he served as Chair of Akamai’s
Architecture Board, responsible for review
and oversight of technical designs for
Akamai’s globally distributed intelligent
platform, as well as providing company-
wide technical guidance. James came to
Akamai from mIT in 2004 and during his
tenure has also served as Architect for
Akamai’s mapping and Network
management systems. he is a published
author on Network Administration and
speaks several languages.
REFERENCES
1. sreenivasan, s. The World Wide Wait:
Don’t Get mad, Get Off. The New
york Times, 30 sep 1996
2. Napoli, N. Was the victoria’s secret
show a Web failure? hardly. There’s
no such thing as bad publicity. The
New york Times, 8 feb 1999
3. Trenholm, r. 20 years ago, star
Wars: The Phantom menace’s trailer
made web history. CNeT, 17 Nov
2018. Available at:
https://www.cnet.com/news/star-
wars-the-phantom-menace-trailer-m
ade-web-history-20-years-ago/
4. hersher, r. meet mafiaboy, The
‘Bratty Kid’ Who Took Down The
Internet. NPr, 7 feb 2015. Available
at:
https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechc
onsidered/2015/02/07/384567322/
meet-mafiaboy-the-bratty-kid-who-
took-down-the-internet
5. National Inventors hall of fame. Tom
Leighton – Content Delivery Network.
Available at:
https://www.invent.org/inductees/to
m-leighton
6. Nygren, e., sitaraman, r.K., and sun,
J. The Akamai Network: A Platform
for high-Performance Internet
Applications. ACm sIGOPs Operating
systems. Aug 2010
ABBREVIATIONS
BGP Border Gateway Protocol
CDN Content Delivery Network
DDos Distributed Denial of service
IP Internet Protocol

OPINION
WHERE IS WIRELESS GOING?
Predicting technology futures is
relatively easy when progress is
steadily following a smooth
logistic curve, says Peter
Cochrane. However, as the curve
tops out there tends to be
sudden and unexpected changes
in the technology that trigger a
new phase of growth. In our
industry these successive
changes have been
consecutively greater as
evidenced by Moore’s Law with
six orders of magnitude growth
over 60 years.
Arguably, the biggest changes in wireless
technology over the past 120 years
occurred with cellular networks and the
transition from analogue to digital. Cellular
operation was a radical step in itself but
moving to digital was transformative of
societies. So, the 2, 3, 4 and 5G
progression has been entirely predictable
with more of the same, but smaller, faster,
and greater computing power and more
bandwidth in a roughly seven-year
innovation cycle. Today, 5G is in the roll-out
phase and creative minds across the
planet are now focussed of 6G and what
happens next. For sure we are due
another radical sideways leap in the
technology, its uses and operations. Much
of this is axiomatic, but most is not.
People and machines: Mobile has been
dominated by people and their needs with
lip service being paid to the rising demand
for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and
Internet of Things (IoT) systems necessary
for Industry 4.0. 6G will reverse this
polarisation as 5G thinking cannot possibly
satisfy future demands.
Infrastructure: Most of the claims made
for 5G will never be realised without
extensive investments in optical fibre to
cell sites, more fibre-fed microcells in
homes, offices and factories. 6G looks set
to break with this cell-model and be the
first large-scale rollout of mesh-net
operations with massive variable latencies.
Energy limitations: 5G is the most
energy-hungry/wasteful mobile technology
ever and probably at the limit of what the
planet and society can afford. With some
towers/cell-installations consuming over
10kW, the notion that we might serve
billions of nodes for M2M and the IoT is
clearly untenable! 6G has to address this
as it may have to support over 250Bn
devices and things communicating over
very short distances in clusters that are
fixed and mobile.
The bandwidth crisis: This is an artificial
manifestation of a management fail where
the limited thinking of the bands and
channels model sees allocations equated
to occupancy. In reality, the broadcast
bands operate at about 20% occupancy,
whilst the spectrum from 3GHz to 300GHz
is currently seeing an occupancy of less
1%. For 6G to satisfy a machine-
dominated world, it would ideally occupy
frequencies above 100GHz and use µW
instead of mW.
Radical 6G innovations: At 100GHz and
above, antennas are small enough to be
on-chip with phased arrays and beam
steering made more efficient and practical.
Of course, the transmit power available
progressively reduces as we progress up
the spectrum, but this is offset by
improving receiver sensitivity. On another
dimension, Industry 4.0/5.0 will see
increasingly smart materials and surfaces.
This may promoter scatter, reflection, and
active surface collaboration for 6G and
path/channel optimisation.
Ultra wideband: The wireless
development population at large are
almost entirely imbibed with the notion
INFORM NETWORK DEVELOP
WHERE IS WIRELESS GOING? 43
that bandwidth is expensive and should be
conserved, and therefore systems will just
naturally become more and more complex
due to the need for more coding and signal
processing. But it doesn’t have to be this
way! Bands and channels are a
manifestation of the analogue era and they
are in many ways an unnecessary
limitation. Signal spreading with code
division multiplex in the form of ultra
wideband or even hyper wideband implies
the abandonment of bit/s/Hz optimisation
and the adoption of Hz/bit/s extravagance.
This is an ideal mode for the IoT and some
M2M cases. But it may be a bridge to far,
and we might have to wait for 7 or 8G for
this to be adopted!
And the rest: WiFi hotspots currently
outnumber mobile cell sites by >380M
and, when offices and homes are included,
this number exceeds 2Bn. Not surprising,
WiFi dominates as an internet connector!
And then there is BlueTooth, ZigBe and a
host of new standards being developed; it
should not be assumed that the ‘G’
technologies will dominate!
The way in which all this will pan out is
impossible to say but, logically, a time will
come for a radical condensation of the
numbers of systems on the basis of the
economies of scale and our efforts to
realise sustainable societies. For my part, I
recommend watching the developments in
materials science, smart surfaces, and the
embedding of smarts in everything we
make, use and consume.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr Peter Cochrane OBE
BSc, MSc, PhD, DSc, CGIA,
FREng, FRSA, FIEE, FIEEE.
Peter is an entrepreneur,
business and engineering
advisor to international industries
and governments. He is also Professor
of Sentient Systems at the University
of Suffolk
THE JOURNAL TJ
 THE JOURNAL TJ
44 HISTORIC HIGHPOINTS
BACK IN THE DAY
Prof Nigel Linge
reflects on the busy
months of October,
November and
December in telecoms yesteryear.
Today’s mobile phones connect to a radio
network that has a cellular architecture but
prior to the launch of the UK’s first two
cellular networks in 1985, mobile
communication was solely provided through
radio telephone services.
These were delivered via networks that
employed high-powered radio base stations
communicating with several mobile units
within a large geographical area. Initially
such systems were known as private mobile
radio systems
because they were
restricted to
organisations such
as the emergency
services, taxi firms,
road assistance
organisations and
the utility industry.
South Lancashire
They were also
Radiophone service blocked from being
(Image: BT archives) connected to the
national telephone
network and were not available for use by
the general public. However, that situation
changed on the 28 October, 1959 when the
GPO opened the South Lancashire
Radiophone service which allowed the
general public to have a telephone in their
car. Radio coverage was provided by two
main VHF base stations located on Winter
Hill near Horwich and Lancaster House in
Liverpool with a third auxiliary station
positioned at Telephone House, 26 York
Street, Manchester.
Telephone House in Manchester was critical
because it housed the Peterloo Exchange
Volume 14 | Part 4 - 2020
NIGEL LINGE
which connected the radiophone service into Having ceased to be a
the national telephone network; all calls to and fixture on our streets,
from the mobile had to be placed via an the Police Box is now
operator. The technology reached London in more closely associated
1965 when the Post Office Tower was opened with Jodie Whittaker and
and over time it evolved into BT’s System 4 her companions as they
Radiophone service before being switched off travel through space and
in 1988 when BT’s Cellnet cellular network time. However, in their Sharp J-SH04
camera phone
had achieved national coverage. heyday the Police Box (photo by
provided a most Stephen Temple )
Of all the features added to a mobile phone valuable public service.
perhaps the one that has had the greatest For the Police Officer it provided a place to
impact on society is the camera. Strange work and communicate with the local Police
though it may seem, adding a camera to a Station, a place to interact with the public
mobile was not immediately welcomed by and when necessary, a place in which to
either the mobile operators or marketers. temporarily lock-up criminals. On the
2 December, 1929, a new feature was
The story began in Sharp’s research added when twenty-two boxes went into
laboratories in Japan where the camera operational use in the Richmond, Barnes
was developed and from there to Japan’s and Kew areas of London.
number one mobile operator, Docomo, who
turned it down flat. So too did Japan’s Equipped with a candlestick telephone
second mobile operator, au. However, which connected to the Richmond Police
engineers at Japan’s third and smallest Station for use by Police Officers when
mobile operator, J-phone, welcomed the inside the box, these were the first that
idea although their marketing department allowed public access to that telephone by
did not see any value integrating a VGA opening a cupboard door on the outside of
camera with a phone that had a relatively the box. In the days when a telephone in the
low-resolution screen. So, it was agreed that home was a rarity and before the
10,000 J-SH04 mobiles would be produced introduction of the 999 service, this
but only 2,000 of these would include innovation offered the public a much
Sharp’s camera. needed and convenient way of summoning
assistance from
The Sharp-JSH04 camera phone sold out the Police, Fire or
within six weeks whilst the 8,000 that didn’t Ambulance
include the camera languished on the services. Sadly,
shelves! Launched in November 2000 the the last
Sharp J-SH04 is regarded as the world’s operational Police
first truly integrated camera phone. Box was removed
Naturally, there are other contenders who from London in
claim to be the first, but the J-Phone truly 1981 but you can
integrated the camera into the phone and still occasionally
provided a user interface that allowed see one
pictures to be shared easily over the cellular rematerialize
network using the Sha-Mail picture whenever the Public access to the Police
messaging service; and with that, as they BBC are in town Box emergency telephone
say, the rest is history. filming. (Image: author )
 TELECOMS professional
THE INSTITUTE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONALS OCTOBER/DECEMBER 2020

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