5G realization so far, after incessant debate and discussions

AT SCWS, small cell world summit, Qualcomm announced industry first 5G NR small cell solution. The FSM100xx 10nm 5G Solution Supports both sub-6GHz and mmWave Spectrum Bands and is Optimized for Small Cell and Remote Radio Head Deployments.

The news from qualcomm give us a watchpoint, to rethink on 5G realization so far. 

The sequential term 5G has comes through to address the ITU-T IMT2020 recommendation for the next gen communication system to cater the need of upcoming applications, the improvements over ITU-T advance recommendation for 4G. Mostly these recommendations caters, spectrum efficiency, high data rates, low latency, High subscriber density, power efficiency, flexibility, fast deployment etc

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But industry is not limited to these and have taken a larger perspective, 5G is being seen to enable smart cities, connect vehicles, automate industry,  create and analyze bigdata for better efficiency, use more spectrum,  provide ultimate flexibility,  adaptable to applications, quickly deployable, cater IOT/IOE, must survive with massive devices connectivity,  apply to high density populations etc. etc.

That has turned 5G to go beyond cellular, and entice a never ending brain storm to talk about it, and discuss on it, about the possible architecture and respective use cases. People have also putting their specific doubts about ‘what to be’ and ‘what not to be’ kind of discussions. Some are taking selective approaches to put the thing on ground and materialize the talks in discussions.  Industry analyst ABI Research is forecasting that mobile broadband operators will generate $247 billion in 5G revenues in 2025. 

3GPP officially stamped on NSA mode NR standardization, Industry has taken some major steps towards 5G by the end of 2017. Those are like, Verizon start providing home broadband using 5G fixed wireless networks, an effort of replacing fiber, Massive MIMO touches the ground – VERIZON,  ERICSSON and Qualcomm Technologies claim that they have completed the first ever FDD MIMO fully compatible customer service. Recently South Korea mobile carrier KT installed 5G network in PyeongChang, for the event Olympic 2018. SK Telecom has plan for 2019 and it created task force of 200 experts to move on 5G (a much appreciated move). AT&T also has put its plan to bring 5G by end of 2018, hand set devices are also gearing up for early devices in market, by 2018 and T-mobile has eagle eye on this market to disclose its 5G plan.

Among much expectations and prediction 5G is still a not well defined term, instead a hash tag to index through some conceptual use case or applicability of technological advancements. 5G is not only about a new radio with large spectrum, but much more from network system point of view, like convergence, slicing, orchestration, automation etc. 

The rationale behind the expectation and prediction are like most of the 5G will depend on technology like NFV or VNF and SDN and MEC. These technologies conceptually and systematically are well superior and captivated but far away from the maturity of their applicability, and therefore it generate a need of cohesive ecosystem emergence. So far there is no significant efforts from the industry, rather some opensource compilation like ONAP, ECOMP etc emerged but they are just bundles not the solutions. 

TM Forum has not been so obsessed about providing or propounding a standardized approach from operation & management, interoperability and integration point of view.

Various industry alliances are still not on the track they are struggling to position them self through the 5G tag.

Also 5G is about many big pictures, conceptually and technically feasible but there is far reaching efforts are required to weave out the fabric for realization.

Although, there would be much pace to adopt 5G in this year- 2018 and coming one, but true 5G will take due time to emerge due to much required deliberation and maturity of technical advances. The real start could be anticipated from 2020 which will be settling to maturity by 2025.

The QoS (quality of service) should change to AoS (applicability of service)

5G could not be delivered without E2E QoS service management, So current QoS management architecture from LTE networks will not be effective there. We can't put QoS control at the edges of access, but we will have to see things E2E to abstract the QoS concept at application demand level. We propose here cocepts of AOS, that is applicability of service, a QoS demand from application towards service delivery network, E2E.

As 5G is more about 'application defined network'. The QoS (quality of service) should change to AoS (applicability of service). QoS is the network constrains whereas AoS is network demand. New policy architecture is demanding here. This is a paradigm shift from ‘bottom-up’ approach to ‘top-down’ approach. This is about to bring more flexibility, better control and far reaching service assurance, for required Quality of Experience QoE and service delivery.

Such kind of Policy architecture could be aligned with 3GPP efforts of verticalization through Standards for north bound APIs. A Northbound API is an interface between an Application Server (either in a mobile operator's network or external to it - operated by a third party) and the 3GPP system via specified Functions in a mobile operator's network.

IOT: Much ado about nothing - So Far.

IOT means Internet of Things, in literary term it's like expansion of connectivity to things not only to humans assistance for remote connectivity, that is only 'Internet'.

There are radios already available for Low range and low power connectivity and also devices and sensors. IOT is for what then - to rejuvenate this industry by creating a buzz in disruptive environment. Definitely not, but it could not be denied that such industry has taken or created much ado around IOT, which is actually not IOT but a kind of Automation only.

Although good to specify some has come with categorization like Industrial IOT or IIOT.There are technology like BLE, LORA, ZiGBEE, Sigfox, LPWAN, already there and have a significant ecosystem too, and so could be said for devices with sensors - enhanced with LTE backhaul connectivity and miniaturization.

IOT is widely used to create the buzz around, though the term IOT is essentially about global connectivity, much like internet. Its essentially about connectivity of devices, with zero human interaction, to far reaching data centers. This is possible only with the networks of capacity and capability to connect this massive devices hives. Hives with different kind of requirements like throughput, signaling, and so on.

3GPP has come up with standards on it like LTE-M, NB-IOT and also GSM specific technological tweaks to cater such issues. But there is no big picture across the industry around IOT as a holistic system.

IOT is relevant with Big data and analytics, and could help and also be squared up with AI and machine learning.

Meanwhile the GSMA has stated that NB-IoT and LTE-M will both be essential components of 5G in connecting IoT and has urged mobile operators to offer services and products, not just connectivity, if they want to capture some of the $1.1 trillion market opportunity available by 2025.

Terragraph - Facebooks New Plan along with Qualcomm to Test the 10 gbps WiFi based backbone networks

The two tech companies announced the joint effort for test of, Facebook's mesh network technology, Called  Terragraph. it already has announced tow field trials in Europe. Now Tests are also expected to begin in partnership with Qualcomm in the U.S. next year.

The technology could deliver significantly higher bandwidth via Wi-Fi — perhaps as fast as 10 gigabits per second at peak speeds. If this gets a successful feat it would do wonder much like 'fiber in the air'.

"With Terragraph, our goal is to enable people living in urban areas to access high-quality connectivity that can help create new opportunities and strengthen communities," said Yael Maguire, vice president of connectivity with Facebook.

The technology is complicated. But it taps 60 gigahertz unlicensed airwaves — know as millimeter wave — to bring high speed Internet to big cities.

Millimeter wave spectrum can deliver a lot of data fast. But it's prone to interference and doesn't travel very far — only a few hundred feet at best — before degrading. It needs to be within line of sight of devices, small cells and access points.

The Terragraph system would use advanced and future generations of Wi-Fi standards to generate uber-fast speeds. Qualcomm is producing the chips and software to enable outdoor operation and avoid interference.

"Our collaboration with Facebook will bring advanced 11ad and pre-11ay technologies to market, increasing broadband penetration and enabling operators to reduce their capital expenses for last-mile access," said Irvind Ghai, a vice president with Qualcomm Atheros.

There ar obvious challenges with the deployment of such WiFi hotspots across the cities and delivering millimeter waves technology, but these challenges are there with others smallcell centric technology too, like 5G fixed broadband systems. 

"There are licensed and unlicensed approaches," said Jesse Burke, a product marketing manager at Qualcomm. "The point is our customers are looking for increasing capacity. There are various approaches in both the licenses and unlicensed bands, and we are providing solutions, along with our customers."

BT and EE show their post-merger road map with hybrid connections for all

The key message is that the company will converge their network by 2022, which will mean (it says) that "customers will never again have to think or worry about which network they are connected to". We're not sure anybody did, but hey.

Included is a 'hybrid' service which will leverage both the BT network and EE 4G cellular offering which aims to make calls and data faster and more reliable.

The result is a service called BT Plus or EE Keep Connected which will be used to ensure that you won't be waiting for ages for a fault fix or new line.

It will also guarantee your line speeds - with 100Mbps minimum speed on the Ultrafast Fibre Plus service, which will also include a 4G hub as back-up. Maxed out speeds could be as high as 314Mbps.

By 2020, all customer service calls will be answered in the UK and Ireland, whilst BT Stores will return to High Streets, presumably leveraging floor space from the extensive EE Store network.

For detail news click HERE