Facing the 5G challenge
1 min read
Since 1981, a new generation of mobile phone technology has been introduced every 10 years. And, if Samsung is to be believed, the industry is on track for the introduction of the next generation – 5G – not long after the turn of the next decade.
While it's a bit enthusiastic to talk about 5G before many have access to 4G, Samsung says it has transmitted data in excess of 1Gbit/s over a 28GHz link, equivalent to the download rate.
But the interesting part of the announcement – if we can call it that – is the upload rate. According to the company, the link can support uploads of 75Mbit/s – enough to stream HD video.
What Samsung hasn't discussed is the details. What size might a cell be? How many subscribers might a cell support? How might you ensure that all subscribers in the cell get the same quality of service?
One problem with 28GHz is the effect of the weather on the quality of communication because if it rains, the signal is affected. Samsung says this can be overcome with a 64 element antenna, suggesting a fair amount of complexity in basestation and handset design.
But there are wider issues. The amount of data flowing through the world's networks is growing at more than 50% a year. Predictions call for more than 11Exabyte (that's 10^18byte) to be transmitted every month by 2017 – consider that today it's less than 1Ebyte. Moving data between a basestation and a handset at the rates Samsung suggests is one thing; moving that data around a congested network will be something else.
