5G – FIFTH-GENERATION EXPLANATION

Sertsedengle Shewandagn Assefa

America College of Technology (ACT), Computer Science Department, 4 Kilo, Addis Ababa, ET
sertseshewa@gmail.com
November 3, 2021
Abstract
5G is a Fifth-generation wireless network that provides NR technology and flexible 5G core with server-
based architecture and network slicing. It is the next-generation cellular network that is meant to deliver
higher multi-Gigabit per second peak data speeds, ultra-low latency, more reliability, massive network
capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users. 5G uses the
orthogonal frequency division multiplex as its modulation format, similar to LTE but 5G also supports
CP-OFDM in the uplink direction. It is used across three main types of connected services, including
enhanced mobile broadband, mission-critical communications, and the massive IoT. A defining
capability of 5G is that it is designed for forwarding compatibility the ability to flexibly support future
services that are unknown today. 5G promised a huge transformation and a better future.
Key Words: 5G NR, 5G core, LTE, CP-OFDM, IoT

1. Introduction method of connection to the internet wirelessly,

the other example is the mobile networks which
Over the last century we have observed a
we are using to connect with our families and
generation evolution of communication
friends without a wire just using transceiver on
technologies, and especially in the recent
our mobile phones and nodes in the area.
decade’s wireless technologies evolved from one
generation to another with better qualities and Over the past half the century, cellular networks
capabilities. Let's start by answering, what are the evolved over different generations. Starting from
communication technologies? There are two the early generation Zero generation (0G) with a
types of communication technologies, wireless big box of voice call mobile devices, then to the
and wired communication. Wired First generation (1G) analog-based mobile device
communications is a broad term that is used to that can only transfer voice, then to the second
describe any type of communication process that generation (2G) digital communication tool
relies on the direct use of cables and wiring to which adds a capability to transfer not only voice
transmit data. A classic example of wired but SMS as well, within a decade an advanced
communications is the traditional home telephone digital communication network Third generation
that is connected to the local telephone switch via (3G) developed with the capability to transfer
wires that are run from the home to the switch, voice, SMS, and data, then a decade later, the
the other example is broadband internet which latest and current technology we are using today
transfers data through a cable like coaxial and the Fourth generation (4G) come out with better
fiber optic cables. [1] Wireless communication is quality and speed of transferring data, voice, and
a broad term that incorporates all procedures and SMS, and today engineers are working towards
forms of connecting and communicating between 5G. [4]
two or more devices using a wireless signal
5G is a fifth-generation cellular network that
through wireless communication technologies
provides NR(New Radio). It provides not only a
and devices. [2] Wireless communication is also
new powerful RAN (Radio Access Network)
called mobile or cellular communication, and
technology, called NR, for very high bit rates,
some of the examples are Wi-Fi which is a
 AC 5G – Fifth Generation Explanation by Sertsedengle S.
T
very low delays (latency), and very high data exchange will be established and the
connection densities but also a new, highly connection stays still, then when the user finished
modular, and flexible 5G core with Service Based and hung up, the connection termination will be
Architecture (SBA) and Network Slicing. The initiated. This was the circuit switching
underlying technologies used are NFV (Network technique, where the line made will be occupied
Functions Virtualization) and SDN (Software by one subscriber until the connection
Defined Networking) in cloud environments. But termination is initiated. But the packet switching
this is not all. Without changing the core technique provided a better solution by providing
network, 5G also enables not only NR, non-3GPP a method to transfer the requests and data in a
WLAN, and 4G access but also fixed lines. [5] A form of separated packets which enables the
5G system can thus implement FMC (Fixed PSTN network to handle other requests
Mobile Convergence) with only one core network simultaneously.
technology. For this reason, 5G can no longer be
The New Generation Network (NGN) is a
called a mobile network. If a 5G system is
packet-oriented (core) network for as many
deployed and used in this general way, it is a new
services as possible. It includes real-time services
generation converged network.
such as telephony, so the network must provide a
Who invented 5G? guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). One of the
important features of NGN is that the complete
According to QUALCOMM, No company or
separation of connection and service control from
person owns 5G, but several companies within
the transport of user data. [5]
the mobile ecosystem are contributing to bringing
5G to life. [6] Discussions on fifth-generation 2.1 Development
(5G) mobile communication began around 2012.
Despite LTE being a very capable technology,
In many discussions, the term 5G is used to
there are requirements not possible to meet with
refer to specific new 5G radio-access
LTE, so 3GPP initiated the development of a
technology. [7] 3GPP (Third Generation
new radio-access technology known as NR to
Partnership Project) is the industry organization
exploit the potential of new technologies. A
that defines the global specifications for 3G
workshop setting the scope was held in the fall of
UMTS, 4G LTE, and 5G technologies. 3GPP is
2015 and technical work began in the spring of
the one who developed it and introduced it to the
2016. [7]
world in the mid of 2016 based on Wikipedia.
3GPP is driving many essential inventions across NR reuses many of the structures and features of
all aspects of 5G design, from the air interface to LTE. OFDM is one of the examples, it has
the service layer. [6] become the standard modulation format for 5G
NR. OFDM introduced the possibility that band-
2. Main Concept
limited orthogonal signals can be combined with
The basic concept of connection-oriented significant overlap while avoiding interchannel
communication is that the subscriber requests to interference. Using OFDM, we can create an
establish a connection to the public switched array of subcarriers that all work together to
network (PSTN) then the PSTN start establishing transmit information over a range of frequencies.
a connection between the subscriber and the [9]
receiver, then if the user is available and not
OFDM is an efficient modulation format used in
busy, will get a request on the form of a ringtone
modern wireless communication systems
to respond and when it accepts the call direct user

2
 AC 5G – Fifth Generation Explanation by Sertsedengle S.
T
including 5G. OFDM combines the benefits of communication is likely to be used for outdoor
Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) and coverage for dense networks - typically densely
Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) to used. its range is tight, up to 200 or 300 meters.
produce a high-data-rate communication system. One of the issues of using millimeter-wave
QAM refers to a variety of specific modulation signals is that they can also be affected by natural
types: BPSK (Binary Phase Shift Keying), QPSK changes. So, 5G networks operate on a higher
(Quadrature Phase Shift Keying), 16QAM (16- mmWave frequency with a wider spectrum
state QAM), 64QAM (64-state QAM), etc. [7] bandwidth, which enables a higher capacity for
transferring data. And the wider the spectrum, the
To increase the availability and accessibility of
more devices that can join and operate at a faster
5G, three electromagnetic waves (EMW)
rate. [7]
spectrums are considered, Low band 5G (600-
750 MHz), Mid band 5G (1 GHz - 6 GHz), and NR primarily uses an orthogonal multiple-access
High band (mm-Wave) spectrum which uses scheme where different devices are separated in
frequency higher than 24Ghz. Mainly 5G will time and frequency. However, non-orthogonal
operate on sub-6Ghz and sub-3Ghz frequencies. access schemes have the potential to increase
Low band spectrum 5G is best understood as a capacity in some scenarios. So three types of
blanket layer for nationwide coverage. It operates multiple access schemes are considered. [3]
between 600-750 MHz and will be at a baseline
1. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple
level of 5G. It is 20% faster than 4G and can
Access (OFDMA) is a multi-user version of
serve customers within hundreds of square miles
OFDM enabling concurrent AP communication
for rural coverage. Spectrum in the 1GHz - 6GHz
(uplink & downlink) with multiple clients by
range is a mid-band spectrum and it is considered
assigning subsets of subcarriers, called Resource
ideal for 5G because it can carry plenty of data
Units (RUs) to the individual clients.
while also traveling significant distances within
several Kilometers. Mid band 5G offers service 2. Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a
within smaller areas compared to low band 5G, new frequency domain non-orthogonal multiple-
and because carriers can allocate more resources access technique which can improve the spectral
in mid-band, data speeds are higher than for low efficiency of wireless radio access. Multiple
band 5G between 100–900 Mbit/s peak speed. It SCMA layers share the same time-frequency
is 6x faster than 4G and is likely to be available resources of OFDMA.
in metropolitan areas. [7]
3. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA)
5G high-band spectrum is the ideal spectrum for uses superposition coding at the transmitter such
more widespread use of massive MIMO because that the successive interference cancellation
it delivers super-fast speeds over short distances. (SIC) receiver can separate the users both in the
It is called the third bucket of the spectrum, uplink and in the downlink channels.
where wireless operators are deploying 5G is in
2.2 Specification of 5G
the millimeter-wave spectrum. It uses
frequencies of 24–47 GHz, near the bottom of the The procedure on the way to 5G differed and still
millimeter-wave band, although higher differs significantly from that of previous
frequencies may be used in the future. It often generations of mobile networks, including 3G
achieves download speeds in the gigabit-per- and 4G. While in the past, the focus was on
second (Gbit/s) range, comparable to cable communication between and services for people,
internet. Typically millimeter-wave it is now on providing a networked world for

3
 AC 5G – Fifth Generation Explanation by Sertsedengle S.
T
everyone and everything, i.e., not only for people Massive Internet of Things (MIoT): use cases in
but also for (smart) things and systems. [7] In metro or stadium, eHealth, smart city (eCity),
2017, 3GPP and its partners gathered around and smart farming (eFarm), wearables, inventory
start formulating standards for 5G and in 2018 control. It also supports a high density of devices,
the first standard release 15 was announced. long-range, and supports low data rate (about 1 to
100 Kbps).
In release 15, communication with fixed
infrastructure is provided by the access-link 3. Ultra-reliable and low latency
interface between the base station and the UE. communications (URLLC) is a new service
The list of specifications released on release 15 category in 5G to accommodate emerging
includes mission-critical (MC) interworking with services and applications having stringent latency
legacy systems, WLAN and unlicensed spectrum, and reliability requirements. It provides ultra-
Slicing – logical end-2-end networks, API responsive connections, offers less than 1ms air
Exposure – 3rd party access to 5G services, interface latency, is ultra-reliable (99.999%), and
service-based architecture (SBA), etc. has low to medium data rates. Examples of use
cases are interactive games, sports broadcasts,
In release 16, the option of the NR side link
industrial control, drones, and robots.
(PC5) is added, which can operate in-coverage,
out-of-coverage, and partial-coverage scenarios, 2.4 Effect of 5G
utilizing all NR frequency bands. The list of
5G will bring a dramatic change in our lives,
specifications released on release 15 includes
economy, living styles, almost everything. 5G’s
enhancement of ultra-reliable low latency
full economic effect will likely be realized across
communications (URLLC), cellular IoT support
the globe by 2035, enabling up to $13.1 trillion
and evolution, advanced V2X support, 5G
worth of goods and services, 22.8 Million new
location, and positioning services, etc.
jobs will be created and $265B global 5G
2.3 Applicability of 5G CAPEX and R&D annually over the next 15
years. This impact is much greater than previous
5G networks will be used in many areas of life.
network generations. The development
But the wide use cases of 5G are summarized in
requirements of the new 5G network are also
three major categories based on previous results,
expanding beyond the traditional mobile
experience, and standardization work: [7]
networking players to industries such as the
1. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB): an automotive industry. 5G value chain includes
extension of services first enabled by 4G LTE OEMs, operators, content creators, app
networks that allow for a high data rate across a developers, and consumers. There will be many
wide coverage area. Examples of use cases are emerging and new applications that will still be
mobile broad-band communication, UHD defined in the future.
television (Ultra High Definition), hologram,
5G is designed to do a variety of things that can
augmented reality, virtual reality, and high
transform our lives, including giving us faster
mobility in trains or airplanes, virtual presence.
download speeds, low latency, and more capacity
Its peak data rate: 10 to 20 Gbps, 100Mbps
and connectivity for billions of devices—
whenever needed, 10000 times more traffic, and
especially in the areas of virtual reality (VR),
supports macro and small cells.
Augmented reality (AR), the IoT, and artificial
2. Massive Machine-Type Communications intelligence (AI). For example, with 5G, you can
(MTC) accommodate emerging services like access new and improved experiences including

4
 AC 5G – Fifth Generation Explanation by Sertsedengle S.
T
near-instant access to cloud services, multiplayer Retrieved Nov 8, 2021, from
cloud gaming, shopping with augmented reality, https://www.easytechjunkie.com/what-are-wired-
and real-time video translation and collaboration, communications.htm
and more. [6] [2] Wireless Communication - Overview. (n.d.).
Tutorials Point. Retrieved Nov 8, 2021, from
3. Conclusion https://www.tutorialspoint.com/wireless_commu
5G is a fifth-generation mobile network. It nication/wireless_communication_overview.htm
provides a new powerful radio access network [3] Notes, E. (n.d.). 5G Multiple Access Schemes
technology, called New Radio, for very high bit . Electronic Notes. https://www.electronics-
rates, very low delays, and very high connection notes.com/articles/connectivity/5g-mobile-
densities but also a new, highly modular, and wireless-cellular/multiple-access-scheme.php
flexible 5G core with service-based architecture [4] Singh, J. (2018, April 24). Generations of
and network slicing. It is a new global mobile Wireless Technology. IJERT. Retrieved
network standard that comes after 1G, 2G, 3G, November 8, 2021, from
and 4G. It enables a new kind of network that is https://www.ijert.org/generations-of-wireless-
technology
designed to connect not just everyone but
everything including machines, objects, and [5] Trick, U. (2021). 5G: An Introduction to the
devices. It uses orthogonal frequency modulation 5th Generation Mobile Networks (De Gruyter
multiplexing as its modulation format and it is STEM). De Gruyter Oldenbourg.
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110724509
considering non-orthogonal frequency
modulation multiplex access as its access [6] What is 5G? (2021, May 13). Qualcomm.
schemes. Three electromagnetic wave spectrum Retrieved November 8, 2021, from
ranges are considered to distribute low band for https://www.qualcomm.com/5g/what-is-5g
rural area distribution, mid-band for metropolitan [7] Dahlman, E., Parkvall, S., & Skold, J. (2018).
distribution, and mmWave for short-range but 5G NR: The Next Generation Wireless Access
dense areas distribution. It is poised to be faster Technology (1st ed.). Academic Press.
than any previous networks, 100x faster than the https://doi.org/10.1016/C2017-0-01347-2
current generation network 4G. It also provides [8] Releases. (n.d.). 3GPP. Retrieved November
low latency, letting applications and 9, 2021, from
communications running on 5G connect and https://www.3gpp.org/specifications/67-releases
share data in near real-time. It has three major use [9] Witte, B. (2020, April 16). The basics of 5G’s
case categories, enhanced mobile broadband, modulation, OFDM. 5G Technology World.
massive machine-type communication, and ultra- Retrieved November 9, 2021, from
reliable and low latency communications. Which https://www.5gtechnologyworld.com/the-basics-
will transform the way of living and satisfy the of-5gs-modulation-ofdm/
network need for new emerging technologies like
autonomous cars, robots, AI, AR and VR, and so
on. Simply, it is one key of the three lock door to
the future, where the other keys are being
Artificial Intelligence and Quantum Computing.
4. References
[1] What are Wired Communications? (with
pictures). (2012, July 11). EasyTechJunkie.