A Brief Survey

of 5G Wireless
Networks

By Dr. Nim Cheung

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 1
Introduction
There have recently been considerable discussions about the advent of 5th Generation Wireless Networks, or 5G.1,
2, 3, 4
Unlike the earlier generations, 5G is expected to bring about revolutionary changes in the capabilities and
applications of wireless communications. 5G will provide a unifying platform that will not only interconnect people,
but interconnect and control a large number of machines and devices. The platform will provide ample opportunities
for innovation and introduce new industry and services that were not possible in earlier generations of wireless
networks. This article provides a short survey on what is 5G, what is its present technology and deployment status,
and how did it evolve from earlier generations of wireless networks. The article also includes references and links for
interested readers to further explore sites and white papers of standards bodies and trade groups, as well as industry
leaders.

Evolution of Wireless Networks –

From 1G to 5G
2.1 First Generation (1G) or AMPS Wireless Network
The First Generation (1G) mobile wireless network can be traced back to the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS)
proposed by the Bell System in 1970.5 Such services were commercially deployed in Japan in 1979 and the United
States in the early 1980’s for a sizeable group of users. These were analog radio systems used to make phone
calls. It was not possible to send or receive text messages. Since radio spectrum is in general a scarce commodity,
a serving area such as the city of Philadelphia was divided into “cells” to allow frequency reuse. As the amount of
traffic increases, the cells are further sub-divided into smaller cells without increasing the radio spectrum. The analog
system is retroactively called First Generation mobile network, or 1G. 1G typically has an equivalent capacity of 2 kb/s
and was run on large, brick-like portable phones that users used to make basic voice calls.

2.2 ITU and 3GPP

Since 1979, a new generation of cellular standards was introduced by the industry about every 10 years.
These standards were driven mainly by the International Telecommunication Union Radio Communication
Sector (ITU-R) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). ITU-R is one of the three sectors of
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the United Nations that regulates the global use of mobile
telecommunications. ITU-R was formerly known as Consultative Committee on International Radio (CCIR). It has a role
to set the guidelines and requirements for various standards bodies. 3GPP is a consortium formed by seven regional
telecommunications associations as primary members and a variety of other organizations as associate members.
3GPP publishes new standards called “Releases.” Each Release consists of many individual specifications that are
required to work together consistently. These Releases pretty much cover the standards from 2G to 5G.

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 2

2.3. Second Generation (2G) Wireless Network
Since 1991, the 1G analog networks were gradually replaced by the digital 2G networks based on the Global System
for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard. The GSM standard was developed by the European Telecommunications
Standard Institute (ETSI) and was first launched in Finland in 1991. 2G networks ran on digital instead of analog
signals, which vastly improved the network’s security and capacity. Users could send SMS and MMS messages over
2G. With the introduction of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) in 1997, 2G users could send and receive emails on
the move. A maximum transfer speed of 40 kb/s for GSM and 384 kb/s for GPRS can be reached.

2.4 ITU’s International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) Specifications

Worldwide deployment of 2G networks were hindered by incompatible standards and different channel
arrangements in different parts of the world. Since 1992, ITU-R made a historical attempt to specify globally
agreed frequency bands for future public mobile communications systems known as International Mobile
Telecommunications (IMT) systems. During the next three decades, ITU-R developed specifications for IMT-2000, IMT-
Advanced, and IMT-2020, which correspond to the 3G, 4G, and 5G wireless networks, respectively.

2.5. Third Generation (3G) Wireless Networks

The 3G network was introduced in 2001 to provide wireless mobile Internet service. The term 3G is often used to
mean IMT-2000 system, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System 2000 (UMTS 2000), or Code Division Multiple
Access 2000 (CDMA 2000) system, all of which were approved by ITU. 3G provides 144 kb/s to multiple megabits per
second of wireless services. It supports video call, file sharing, Internet surfing, and online TV. The first Apple iPhone
introduced in 2007 was run on 3G wireless networks. 3G wireless network is still in use today, but normally where 4G
is not available.

2.6 Fourth Generation (4G) or LTE Wireless Network

The 4G wireless standards were specified by ITU-R in 2009 known as International Mobile Telecommunications
Advanced (IMT-Advanced) specification. IMT-Advanced sets peak requirement for 4G services at 100 megabits
per second for high speed moving objects such as trains and cars and 1 gigabit per second for low speed moving
objects such as pedestrians and stationary users. With 4G, users can experience better latency through less
buffering, higher voice quality, easy access to instant messaging services and social media, quality streaming, and
faster downloads.

Detailed specifications of 4G standards were carried out by 3GPP under the names of different Releases of Long
Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced. 4G is based on all Internet Protocol (IP) packet switching. 3GPP’s Releases 8 through
13 encompass the introduction and evolution of the 4G family of wireless networks.

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 3

2.7. Fifth Generation (5G) Wireless Network
5G, or IMT-2020, wireless networks are widely anticipated by the wireless industry and users around the world.
Commercial deployments of 5G were introduced in limited form in 2019, and 3GPP Releases 14 to 17 guided the
standards development of 5G from 2015 to 2021.6 5G standards provides a unifying framework that greatly increases
the functionality and applications of the wireless infrastructure. 5G is expected to greatly facilitate a large number of
new applications from connected cars and smart cities to mission critical services.

Figure 1 illustrates the evolution of different generations of wireless networks. The rest of the article will examine the
new features of 5G and how it will bring about revolutionary changes in the communications infrastructure.

Figure 1: Evolution of cellular communications

What is New in 5G?

To guide the development of 5G, ITU-R has defined the following 3 standards addressing 5G’s three new features.
These are Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive
Machine-Type Communications (mMTC). 3GPP’s Releases 14, 15, and 16 cover the introduction and evolution of 5G
wireless network while the drafting of Release 17 is still ongoing to date. The timeline of 5G evolution is illustrated
in Figure 2.

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 4

Figure 2: 3GPP. 5G time table

The main characteristics of these three new features are (see Figure 3):

Figure 3: 5G – What are we expecting?

We will discuss these three new characteristics of 5G networks in Sections 3.1 through 3.3.

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 5

3.1 Achieving Greater Speed and Network Capacity in 5G
5G achieves greater speed and network capacity by using a much wider range of the electromagnetic spectrum with
multiple frequency bands. The frequency bands include the millimeter wave band, the mid-band from 1 to 6 GHz,
and the low-band of below 1 GHz (see Figure 4). The mid- and low-bands overlap with the frequency bands of 4G and
earlier generations of wireless networks, allowing 5G networks to be backward compatible.

Figure 4: Multiple frequency bands to support 5G use cases

Millimeter waves are electromagnetic or radio waves defined to lie within the frequency range of 30 to 300 GHz
(1 to 10 mm wavelength). 5G millimeter wave applications typically employ the band between 24 GHz to 100 GHz.
Such high frequencies are capable of supporting multi-gigabits/sec applications, or 100 times faster the link speed
of 4G. While the millimeter band has the advantage of high speed and small antenna size, it has the disadvantages
of shorter range, higher penetration loss, and interference with oxygen molecules and rain. To address these
limitations, 5G millimeter waves use smaller cells, thus requiring more cells in a smaller serving area (see Figure 5).

Most of the 5G deployments to date use the mid-band. The frequencies deployed ranges from 2.4 to 4.2 GHz. Some
common frequencies used are 2.5, 3.3, and 4.2 GHz. The lower the frequency, the higher the range and penetration
rate. For the mid- and low-bands, 5G can use existing cell towers of the macro cells, which helps to lower deployment
cost. The data rate for a 100 MHz wide spectrum can be as high as several hundred megabits/sec.

The 5G low-band offers similar capacity to advanced 4G. The carrier frequency ranges from 600 to 850 GHz. The data
rates for the low-band could vary from 25 to 100 Mb/s.

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 6

Figure 5: Macro cell + small cell for coverage and high capacity

3.2 Achieving Higher Network Capacity

In addition to much higher speed per individual link, 5G provides a much higher network capacity than earlier
generations. The capacity of a network is often characterized by bits per second per unit area. The overall capacity
can be computed by the product or a function of the three parameters: (i) available bandwidth, (ii) no. of cells per unit
area, and (iii) spectral efficiency (see Figure 6).

Figure 6: Elements for achieving 5G capacity

The available bandwidth is the total amount of the bandwidth available by each band for an individual radio link.
As the 5G spectrum is expanded to mid-band and millimeter wave, a much higher bandwidth is available for the
aggregate applications.4

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 7

5G took maximum advantage of frequency reuse of cellular networks. As the 5G spectrum encompasses the low-
band, mid-band, and millimeter wave band, 5G employs the traditional macro cells such as 3G and 4G cellular and
implements carrier aggregation with LTE Advanced (LTE-A) systems. Mobile-device users will benefit from increased
data speeds, mobility, and flexibility as well. It will also benefit from the small cells of the higher frequency region.
The relatively low power levels of small cells allow mobile devices to be in close proximity to those small cells. They
are able to gain network access while conserving battery life, and they need not establish radio communications links
with more distant larger cell sites at transmission levels diminished by distance (see Figure 5).

3.3. Increase spectral efficiency with MIMO and Beamforming

5G spectral efficiency is improved with Multiple-Input Multiple-Output antenna techniques, or MIMO (see Figure
7). MIMO uses multiple antennas, typically 2 or 4, for the transmitters and receivers. It allows the transmitting and
receiving of more than one data signal simultaneously over the same radio channel, thus multiplying the capacity
of a wireless connection without requiring more spectrum. 5G further takes advantage of the Massive MIMO, which
have more antennas, for example 8 x 8. This results in more directional signal paths and better performance in
terms of data rate and link reliability. Massive MIMO also improves coverage as it is also more responsive to devices
transmitting in higher frequency bands. This will have considerable benefits for obtaining a strong signal indoors.
Massive MIMO makes it far more resistance to interference and intentional jamming than current systems that only
utilize a smaller number of antennas.

Figure 7: What is MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output)?

Massive MIMO enables beamforming, allowing targeted use of spectrum. Such a process is handled far more smartly
and efficiently, so data speeds and latency will be far more uniform across the network (see Figures 8 and 9).

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 8

Figure 8: Beanforming

Figure 9: 5G small cell + beamforming to achieve ultrahigh capacity in a stadium

5G New Radio (NR)

The 5G New Radio (5G NR) is a new radio access technology defined by 3GPP for the 5G mobile network .6, 7 It is
intended to be a new global standard for the air interface of 5G networks. An air interface is the radio frequency
portion of the wireless link between the mobile device and the base station. 5G NR covers the two frequency ranges,
the Frequency Range 1 (FR1) includes the region below 6 GHz (low-band and mid-band), while the Frequency Range 2
(FR2) includes frequency bands in the millimeter wave range (24 to 100 GHz).

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 9

In 2018, 3GPP published Release 15 standard which includes the Phase 1, the so called non-standalone mode (NSA). It
will publish Release 16 by June 2020. Release 17 is expected to be complete in September 2021.

Initial 5G NR launch depends on existing 4G LTE infrastructure in non-standalone NSA mode, making 5G backward
compatible to earlier generations. The NSA mode uses the existing 4G LTE for control functions (or control plane) and
5G NR for user functions (or user plane). It will be evolved into the 5G NR standalone mode (SA), which uses the 5G
cell entirely for both signaling and information transfer.6, 7

5G Network Slicing
In the planning and implementation of the 5G Network, one frequently comes across the concept of “Slicing.” This is
an important concept, as 5G typically includes a large variety of services, each with a different network requirement. It
is necessary to take the infrastructure resources from the spectrum, antennas, and backend network and equipment
and use it to create different subnetworks, or slice, with different properties. Each sub-network slices the resources
from the physical network, end-to-end, to create its own independent network for its own application.

5G Network Slicing allows service providers to build virtual end-to-end networks tailored to individual network
requirements. For example, the Mobile Broadband Slice is used to provide dedicated support for Communications,
Entertainment, and Internet Services. The Massive IoT Slice is used to support Retail, Shipping, and Manufacturing
Services. The Mission Critical Slice is used to support Intelligent Highway and Medical Infrastructure, and so on
(see Figure 10).7

Figure 10: 5G network slicing – one network, multiple industries

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 10

Connectivity and global networks concept © Photographer is my life/Getty Images

5G Usage Scenarios and Priority

in Early 5G Deployment
As discussed before, the combination of three main characteristics of Enhanced Mobile Broadband, Massive Machine
Type Communications, and Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications enables a rich set of application
scenarios. The combination is often depicted by a triangle (see Figure 11) introduced by ITU-R Rec. 2083.7

Figure 11: 5G usage scenario and priority in early 5G deployment

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 11

The following provides examples of applications and its enablers:8

Industry Applications Enablers 5G features

Education Distance Learning Video Streaming, Enhanced Mobile

Immersive Experience Augmented Reality/Virtual Broadband, Low Latency
Reality
Industry 4.0 Industrial Automation Intelligent Robots, Internet Massive Machine-Type
of Things Communications, Ultra-
reliable and Low Latency,
Low Power Consumption
Healthcare Remote Diagnosis and Video Streaming, Ultra-reliable and Low
Procedures, Long Term Augmented Reality/Virtual Latency, Low Power
Monitoring Reality, Internet of Things, Consumption
Intelligent Robots
Smart Grid Intelligent Demand/ IoT Sensors and Networks Ultra-reliable and Low
Supply Control, Powerline Latency,
Communications Massive Machine-Type
Communications, Broad
Network Coverage
Entertainment Immersive Gaming Video Streaming, Enhanced Mobile
and Media Industry, Augmented Reality/Virtual Broadband, Low Latency
Multimedia Experience at Reality
4K and 8K Resolution
Intelligent Highway and Intelligent Navigation Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Enhanced Mobile
Autonomous Vehicles and Transport Systems, Communications, Vehicle- Broadband, Ultra-reliable
Collision Avoidance to-Infrastructure (V2I), and Low Latency
Intelligent Transport
Systems (ITS)
Smart Cities Smart Utilities, Massive IoT and Backhaul, Enhanced Mobile
Transportation, Healthcare, networks, Intelligent Broadband, Massive
Education and Urban Highway, Threat Response, Machine Type
Services Video cameras for Communications, Ultra-
surveillance reliable and Low Latency

Of these three main 5G characteristics, Enhanced Mobile Broadband, or high speed communications, will be the
main driver for near-term deployment, followed by Massive Machine Type Communications and then Ultra-reliable
and Low Latency. According to a survey conducted by GSMA, the trade organization for service providers, the relative
priority for deploying 5G are 74%, 21%, and 5%, respectively (see Figure 8).4

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 12

5G Deployment Status
Commercial deployments in 5G systems began in 2019, and the momentum picked up in 2020. South Korea is the
first country to adopt 5G on a large scale since April 2019. They use the 3.5 GHz band in non-standalone (NSA) mode.
Download speeds ranging from 190 to 430 megabit/sec were achieved. A quarter million users signed up in April, and
their goal is to reach 10% of the phones on 5G by the end of 2019.

In the United States, the four major carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon) announced plans to deploy 5G in
2019, beginning with major metropolitan areas. 5G is deployed in more than 50 cities to date. China launched the
world’s largest 5G network and started commercial operations in November 2019.

The Global Mobile Suppliers Association listed 224 operators in 88 countries that are actively investing in 5G in April
2019. This figure is up from 192 operators in 81 countries in November 2018. 5G radio equipment and 5G systems
for carriers are mainly supplied by the following vendors: Altiostar, Cisco Systems, Datang Telecom, Ericsson, Huawei,
Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung, and ZTE.

Summary
The 5th Generation Wireless Network is poised for major worldwide deployment in 2020. 5G is expected to deliver
much higher data rate, lower latency, and more reliability. It provides a unifying new platform that encompasses
earlier generation of wireless networks. The powerful new platform will undoubtedly stimulate novel applications and
the creation of new industries.

To learn more about 5G and all the latest topics in engineering computer
science, visit [Link]

A Brief Survey of 5G Wireless Networks [Link] 13

References
1
White paper by Qualcomm. [Link]
2
White papers by Ericsson. [Link]
3
White paper by Huawei. [Link]
network-architecture
4
GSMA – The 5G era: Age of boundless connectivity and intelligent automation.
[Link]
5
W. R. Young, “Advanced Mobile Phone Service: Introduction, Background, and Objectives”, The Bell System Technical
Journal (BSTJ), Vol. 58, No. 1, January 1979.
6
5G NR Physical Channel and Modulation, 3GPP TS 38.211 version 15.2.0 Release 15
7
2017_ITU News02-en [Link]
8
Examples of 5G applications and their enablers. IEEE Future Networks Initiative. [Link]
Cover photo © nicomenijes/Getty Images

With thanks to contributions from Dr. Xinyi Liu and Dr. Justin Chuang.