Empowering 5G in Sri Lanka
We live in a digitally connected era where all electronic devices are connected to the internet 24x7. The inevitable future depends entirely on interconnectedness. Currently advancing in virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), the future holds undreamt technologies which leads to a more secure, trouble-free and robust lifestyle. Accordingly, high-speed internet connections will be an essential requirement.
In order to keep up with the rapidly increasing number of connected devices the tech industry presented the fifth generation of wireless network technology, famously known as 5G, back in 2019.
“But what is 5G?”
5G is known as the successor of previously famous 4G, 3G, 2G and 1G networks. But before we understand what 5G is, we need to know how the first generation (1G) of wireless mobile technology evolved into the latest, fifth generation (5G) within a span of 4 decades.
1G - The first generation of mobile network was introduced in the late 70’s with fully implemented standards being established throughout the 80’s. This generation used analog technology and as a result, phones had a relatively low voice quality with less security and sometimes, even experienced dropped calls.
2G - Introduced in 1991, the second generation implemented the concept of CDMA and GSM, enabling to text for the first time. Voice calls were remarkably clearer with less static in comparison to 1G network because 2G network used digital radio signals to transfer data. Calls could even be encrypted.
3G - A major change occurred when 3G was introduced in 2001. The ultimate goals of this generation were to support a wider range of applications, facilitate a greater voice and data capacity and increase the amount of data transmission at a relatively lower cost. 3G network provides a significantly faster data rate because it uses a new technology called Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) as its main network architecture. This led to a number of new services such as video conferencing, streaming and voice over IP. In brief, 3G brought us online. The renowned iPhone was first released in 2007 during the twilight era of 3G.
4G – First deployed in 2009 as the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) 4G standard, the whole purpose of 4G was to provide high quality, speed and capacity while improving security and minimizing data cost. This technology made high quality video streaming a reality for many consumers. 4G has a theoretical speed of 100Mbps that can reach up to a maximum of 300Mbps which paved the way for HD streaming and incredibly fast downloading speeds.
5G - First released in South Korea in April 2019, 5G can be seen with a series of improvements beginning with, remarkably faster data rates, extremely low latency rates and a higher number of connection density, among a few improvements.
In the mid of 2019, Sri Lanka launched its first 5G connectivity and has seen a gradual growth in the number of users of 5G networking. Sri Lanka has several 5G coverage areas, Colombo, Galle, Matara are some such places.
Main features of 5G
Low latency - The delay between sending and receiving information is very low. 4G has a latency speed of 200 milliseconds while 5G has a latency of merely just 1 millisecond. Sri Lanka being a country which has a number of family members abroad will gain a benefit as many find difficulty in video conferencing over 4G. But benefits of low latency do not end here. Autonomous vehicles, virtual and augmented reality, remote surgeries (since many complicated surgeries need to be done abroad) can easily be done within the country inside the comfort of one’s home.
High connection density - 5G is expected to connect to up to 1 million devices per 0.38 square miles, compared to about 2000 connected devices in 4G. This entitles to transfer more data, much faster than 4G LTE. 5G speeds reach up to 10Gbps, about 700 times faster than the typical 4G speeds. In short, you will be able to live stream several, at the same time or even download a 4K high definition movie in less than half a minute!
All Lankan gamers would know of the most popular SLT eSports gaming competition. Internet connections are quite good but there is always a lag of at least 0.1 second. This could be eradicated if 5G was in use, as this technology has ultra-fast speed internet connections.
Key technologies used in 5G
There are 5 main technologies emerging as foundations of 5G networks;
1) Millimeter Wave
2) Small Cell
3) Massive MIMO
4) Beamforming
5) Full Duplex
1)Millimeter Wave - 5G has a higher frequency band, ranging between 24GHz to 100GHz, known as millimeter wave (mmWave). The current 4G band of sub 6 ranges between 600MHz to 6GHz. Having a larger bandwidth is ideal to increase the capacity of wireless networks but infrastructure costs are quite high as it uses satellite broadcasting. The biggest drawback of having such high frequencies is that signals cannot travel through buildings and tend to get absorbed by plants. This is a major problem in Sri Lanka as almost 33% of the country is covered by forests and there are number of buildings that are coming up in the country.
2) Small Cell Towers – These towers can be put up in and around the city to overcome the problem in mmWave technology. It helps to form a sort of relay team using many low power mini base stations, which will be a lot closer than the traditional towers, to transmit signals around obstacles.
3) Massive MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) – Current 4G base stations has over ten ports for antennas to handle cellular traffic but Massive MIMO base stations could support about a hundred ports and that could increase todays network capacity by multiple times. There are a lot of interference in todays cellular antennas as signals are broadcasted in every direction.
4) Beamforming – This can be said as a traffic system for cellular signals. Instead of broadcasting signals from every direction, it would allow a base station to send a focused stream of data to a specific user.
5) Full Duplex – Todays antennas are half-duplex, meaning that it can only either transmit or receive signals at a particular time. Researchers used silicone transistors to create high speed switches that halt the backward role of these waves. Its kind of like a signaling system that can momentarily reroute the signals so that they can pass each other without interference. This saves up a lot of time, deliver data much faster and is more secure.
Conclusion
5G is the foreseeable future of mobile networking, helping to make Internet of Things (IoT) a reality. This wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for the continuous change the tech industry has brought to us since 1G.
But one main hindrance is that unlike the previous generations, like 3G and 4G that could simply add a little more technology into the existing infrastructure left by the previous generations, 5G is a lot more costly and complex to execute. It is vital to build many more base stations than 4G to get the kind of coverage that people expect, potentially leading to possible, as-yet unstudied, health complications.
The cost to build that much of base stations in Sri Lanka would be estimated over a million rupees. But the outcome will always be worthy. With 5G in place, connections to a number of devices will be in our fingertips, whether it’s your fridge at home or your car in the parking lot, you will be just one click away. Let’s all be waiting for this game-changer as this latest network shall bring technologies only dreamt of, come true!
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