Kotebe University of Education

Faculty of Natural and Computational Sciences

Department of Computer Science

Research on 5G technology

Prepared By: -                                                                               

Daniel Seyoum                                                   fncs/ur9655/11                                         

Getnet Chekol                                                    fncs/ur9640/11

Abenezer Zenebe                                               fncs/ur9651/11

Nathnael Kifle                                                    fncs/ur9653/11

Yosef Getu                                                          fncs/ur9644/11

Estifanos Merhawi                                             fncs/ur9643/11

1. Abstract

5G Technology stands for 5th generation mobile technology. 5G denote the next major phase of mobile telecommunication standards beyond the upcoming 4G standards. 5G technology will change the way most high bandwidth users access their phones. With 5G pushed over a VOIP enabled device, people will experience a level of call volume and data transmission never experienced before.

5G technology is wished to change the future of technology. In 5G ultra-wideband network, today users can enjoy near real time experiences with high throughput, ultra-low latency and massive capacity. In this research we present an overview of the technology and issues & challenges regarding the advancement and development of the technology are discussed by raising the frequently asked questions on the filed.

2. Introduction

Mobile networks, which have a 40-year history that parallels the Internet’s, have undergone significant change. The first two generations supported voice and then text, with 3G defining the transition to broadband access, supporting data rates measured in hundreds of kilobits-per-second. Today, the industry is at 4G (supporting data rates typically measured in the few megabits-per-second) and transitioning to 5G, with the promise of a tenfold increase in data rates.

But 5G is about much more than increased bandwidth. 5G represents a fundamental rearchitecting of the access network in a way that leverages several key technology trends and sets it on a path to enable much greater innovation. In the same way that 3G defined the transition from voice to broadband, 5G’s promise is primarily about the transition from a single access service (broadband connectivity) to a richer collection of edge services and devices. 5G is expected to provide support for immersive user interfaces (e.g., AR/VR), mission-critical applications (e.g., public safety, autonomous vehicles), and the Internet-of-Things (IoT). Because these use cases will include everything from home appliances to industrial robots to self-driving cars, 5G won’t just support humans accessing the Internet from their smartphones, but also swarms of autonomous devices working together on their behalf. There is more to supporting these services than just improving bandwidth or latency to individual users.

2.1 Research questions

1.      What is 5G technology?

2.      What is the difference between 5G and 4G?

3.      How does 5G technology work?

4.      How fast is 5G technology?

5.      When and where was 5G technology first launched?

6.      What is the advantage of 5G technology?

7.      What are the disadvantages of 5G technology?

8.      Was the launch of 5G technology the cause for the corona virus pandemic?

9.      What are the challenges for 5G system?

10.  How secure is 5G technology?

11.  How expensive is 5G technology?

12.  Does Ethiopia have 5G network?

2.2 Research objectives

The research is done with the following objectives:

§  To give an overall introduction on 5G technology.

§  To give explanation on frequently asked questions about the 5G technology.

§  To identify the advantages and disadvantages of the technology.

§  To study the current growth of the technology in our country (Ethiopia).

§  To clear out common misconceptions and conspiracies on the field.

§  To give a highlight on how the technology works?

3. Literature review

In this paper, a detailed research on various technologies of 5G networks is presented. Various researchers have worked on different technologies of 5G networks.

The existing survey focused on architecture, key concepts, and implementation challenges and issues. The numerous current surveys focused on various 5G technologies with different parameters, and the authors have tried to cover all the technologies of the 5G network in detail with challenges and recent advancements. Few authors worked on the frequently asked questions by the common people about 5G technology. In contrast, some others worked on questions related with conspiracies. But the existing survey did not cover all the technologies of the 5G network from a research and advancement perspective. No detailed survey is available in the market covering all the 5G network technologies and answers for frequently asked questions by the common people. So, our main aim is to identify and give a clear explanation on the most frequently asked questions on the 5G technology, this research covers the common misconceptions and the appropriate answers for the confusion of the 5G technology and its importance. Various recent significant papers are discussed with the key technologies accelerating the development and production of 5G products. This research article collected key information about 5G technology and recent advancements, and it can be a kind of a guide for the reader.

4. Research Methodology (Proposed)

The research methodology selected for this research is systematic mapping study. A systematic mapping study is “the process of identifying, categorizing, analyzing existing literatures that are relevant to a certain research topic”. We as a group choose to follow a systematic mapping study since our objectives are to explore recent researches and give clear understanding of 5G technology.

5. Findings and analysis

Question 1: What is 5G technology?

5G is the 5th generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices.

5G wireless technology is meant to deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra-low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users. Higher performance and improved efficiency empower new user experiences and connects new industries.

Question 2: What is the difference between 5G and 4G?

The Following are the major differences that you need to know between 4G and 5G.

1. The speed

Speed is one of the key elements of the next-generation network. 5G is faster, smarter, as well as more energy-efficient than the 4G network. The 5G network's speed is 10 gigabits per second, which is 100 times faster than 4G. It means with 5G. You can download the high-definition film in a fraction of seconds, which takes about an hour with the current 4G networks. Besides, the connectivity requirement also varies that depends upon what network you are using. Like when you are streaming a film on your Smartphone, your connected car demands a special connectivity level, which is not always obtainable with the 4G network. The data given below can help you to understand the connectivity concept with more clarity.

 

Generation	Theoretical Speed	Technology	Features
4G	100-300Mbps	LTE	Fast download speeds open the way for HD Streaming.
5G	10-30Gbps	Developing	Ultra-fast internet, low-latency, and improved reliability.

 

2. Spectrum

Every network operator owns some blocks of the spectrum, which create the total network capacity. Further, this capacity determines the speed of data transfer. In 4G, the capacity is less while the users are increasing day by day. This problem will get solved with the 5G, as it has a hundred times more capacity than 4G. For example- the operator may have 100 MHz of spectrum to use for all of its customers in one country, but with 5G networks, it will increase to approximately 1,000 MHz This is the real change that you will notice with 5G.

3. Latency Rates

Latency measures how much time the signal will take to go from its source to the receiver and then finally go back. One of the most important things that wireless generation is focusing on to reduce for making the connectivity better and fast. The 5G networks have a lower latency rate as compare to the 4G LTE. In 4G networks, the latency rate is approximately 40 to 50 milliseconds. On the other hand, the latency rate of 5G is significantly lower than 4G, and it is only one millisecond in 5G. Moreover, 5G networks allow smooth handling of spikes and greater optimization of network traffic than 4G.

4. Applications

In comparison to 4G, 5G technology can deploy many new applications that will improve the quality of life. The massive connectivity of 5G will benefit everyone including, workers, gamers, business people, students, and all in between. Take a look at some 5G applications to understand the difference between 4G and 5G in a better way!

·         Broadband-like mobile service

You can see the most noticeable and initial impacts of the 5G network on the mobile services. With the help of 5G mobile networks, you can take the benefit of high-definition streaming video without any buffering. With an immense increase in the network capacity, 5G is also predictable to reduce the slowdowns during its usage. With this, sports fans are able to stream during the big gaming sessions as wee. On the other side, with 4G, you face many problems with live streaming of long-hour matches and 4K video streaming.

·         Autonomous vehicles

Autonomous vehicles are one of the most desirable and impactful applications of 5G. Network technology is advancing at a fast pace to support autonomous vehicles in the future. 5G allows the vehicles to respond against the objects and help to change the direction automatically. For example - A car is traveling at 30 miles per hour speed, it receives a signal instantly from 5G and automatically changes the speed.  This helps the car from getting hit by an object. However, with the current 4G latency, which is around 100 milliseconds, the car will receive the signals a little later as compared to the 5G network. This may cause any accident as well. Therefore, 5G is the future of autonomous vehicles but not 4G.

Question 3: How does 5G technology work?

Most operators will initially integrate 5G networks with existing 4G networks to provide a continuous connection. A mobile network has two main components, the ‘Radio Access Network’ and the ‘Core Network’.

The Radio Access Network - consists of various types of facilities including small cells, towers, masts and dedicated in-building and home systems that connect mobile users and wireless devices to the main core network.

Small cells will be a major feature of 5G networks particularly at the new millimeter wave (mm Wave) frequencies where the connection range is very short. To provide a continuous connection, small cells will be distributed in clusters depending on where users require connection which will complement the macro network that provides wide-area coverage.

5G Macro Cells will use MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) antennas that have multiple elements or connections to send and receive more data simultaneously. The benefit to users is that more people can simultaneously connect to the network and maintain high throughput.  Where MIMO antennas use very large numbers of antenna elements they are often referred to as ‘massive MIMO’, however, the physical size is similar to existing 3G and 4G base station antennas.

The Core Network - is the mobile exchange and data network that manages all of the mobile voice, data and internet connections. For 5G, the ‘core network’ is being redesigned to better integrate with the internet and cloud based services and also includes distributed servers across the network improving response times (reducing latency).

Many of the advanced features of 5G including network function virtualization and network slicing for different applications and services, will be managed in the core. The following illustration shows examples of local cloud servers providing faster content to users (movie streaming) and low latency applications for vehicle collision avoidance systems.

Network Slicing – enables a smart way to segment the network for a particular industry, business or application. For example, emergency services could operate on a network slice independently from other users.

Network Function Virtualization (NVF) - is the ability to instantiate network functions in real time at any desired location within the operator’s cloud platform. Network functions that used to run on dedicated hardware for example a firewall and encryption at business premises can now operate on software on a virtual machine. NVF is crucial to enable the speed efficiency and agility to support new business applications and is an important technology for a 5G ready core.

Question 4: How fast is 5G technology?

5G is designed to deliver peak data rates up to 20 Gbps based on IMT-2020 requirements. But 5G is about more than just how fast it is. In addition to higher peak data rates, 5G is designed to provide much more network capacity by expanding into new spectrum, such as mm Wave.

5G can also deliver much lower latency for a more immediate response and can provide an overall more uniform user experience so that the data rates stay consistently high even when users are moving around. And the new 5G NR mobile network is backed up by a Gigabit LTE coverage foundation, which can provide ubiquitous Gigabit-class connectivity.

Question 5: When and where was 5G technology first launched?

The first country to adopt 5G on a large scale was South Korea, in April 2019. Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson predicted that 5G internet will cover up to 65% of the world's population by the end of 2025.

Question 6: What is the advantage of 5G technology?

The 5G technology has a lot of advantages but the following are the most important ones:

·         Higher Download Speed: The 5G network will have the capacity to increase download speeds by up to 20 times (from 200 Mbps (4G) to 10 Gbps (5G)) and decreasing latency (response time between devices). These speeds will maximize the browsing experience by facilitating processes that, although possible today, still present difficulties.

·         Hyper connectivity: The 5G network promises the possibility of having a hyper-interconnected environment to reach the point of having the much desired “smart cities”. The correct performance of these new dynamics will depend on the bandwidth of 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).

·         Process optimization: It is also expected to revolutionize areas such as medicine (remote operations, for example), and traffic management and autonomous vehicles, as well as its implementation in the construction sector to optimize resources and reduce risks.

·         Improved mobile telephony (voice over 5G)

·         Better coverage and stability of connection

Question 7: What is the disadvantage of 5G technology?

• Gigabit mobile communications have so far provided little added value for consumers
• Still inadequate availability (especially in rural areas)
• New devices required
• More transmission antennas required for uniform network coverage than with 4G
• Issue of health hazards from mobile radiation not yet conclusively clarified

Question 8: Was the launch of 5G technology the cause for the corona virus pandemic?

Viral posts on social media alleging that COVID-19 is either caused or exasperated by 5G technology have spread. Other posts allege that the virus itself is a cover-up for the adverse health impacts experienced from 5G exposure.

Multiple celebrities have shared posts claiming that 5G causes serious illness, circulating false reports and doctored video in the process. Arsonists in several countries have burned down 5G cell towers, on a belief they help spread the new coronavirus. There is no evidence to support these claims; in fact, experts now agree that 5G poses no significant medical risks.

"Nothing has been scientifically demonstrated that links electromagnetic radiation and virus proliferation," Richard Kuhn, a professor of virology at Purdue University, told USA TODAY. "This is true not only for COVID-19 but also for other known human viruses."

Question 9: What are the challenges for 5G system?

To understand these questions, the challenges of 5G are categorized into the following two headings:

• Technological Challenges
• Common Challenges

Technological Challenges

• Inter-cell Interference: This is one of the major technological issues that need to be solved. There are variations in size of traditional macro cells and concurrent small cells that will lead to interference.

·         Efficient Medium Access Control: In a situation, where dense deployment of access points and user terminals are required, the user throughput will be low, latency will be high, and hotspots will not be competent to cellular technology to provide high throughput. It needs to be researched properly to optimize the technology.

·         Traffic Management: In comparison to the traditional human to human traffic in cellular networks, a great number of Machine to Machine (M2M) devices in a cell may cause serious system challenges i.e. radio access network (RAN) challenges, which will cause overload and congestion.

Common Challenges

·         Multiple Services: Unlike other radio signal services, 5G would have a huge task to offer services to heterogeneous networks, technologies, and devices operating in different geographic regions. So, the challenge is of standardization to provide dynamic, universal, user-centric, and data-rich wireless services to fulfil the high expectation of people.

·         Infrastructure: Researchers are facing technological challenges of standardization and application of 5G services.

·         Communication, Navigation, & Sensing: These services largely depend upon the availability of radio spectrum, through which signals are transmitted. Though 5G technology has strong computational power to process the huge volume of data coming from different and distinct sources, but it needs larger infrastructure support.

·         Security and Privacy: This is one of the most important challenges that 5G needs to ensure the protection of personal data. 5G will have to define the uncertainties related to security threats including trust, privacy, cybersecurity, which are growing across the globe.

·         Legislation of Cyberlaw: Cybercrime and other fraud may also increase with the high speed and ubiquitous 5G technology. Therefore, legislation of the Cyberlaw is also an imperative issue, which largely is governmental and political (national as well as international issue) in nature.

 

Question 10: How secure is 5G technology?

The security enhancements it includes

Beyond network slicing, 5G offers several significant security enhancements compared to its predecessors like 4G and LTE. With these enhancements, organizations are able to reap many benefits. Here we will outline the most prominent enhancements and explain how they can benefit your organization.

First, 5G is more capable of protecting your identity. For the first time, your connection is shielded from rogue devices that may capture phone calls by mimicking cell towers. Your ID with 5G is encrypted.

Plus, a more robust encryption algorithm scrambles the traffic when your voice and data travels from your device to the cell tower. What this means is hackers with powerful computers won’t want to take the time to decrypt your info.

5G also lends itself to more intelligent software and “virtual” hardware. Instead of specialized hardware that could be compromised, your data can be routed through virtual hubs and switches that can be moved or changed quickly if required.

Finally, there’s edge computing which is all about where data is processed. With traditional or cloud computing, data may have to travel to a server far away. With edge, it’s processed much closer to the source, enabling the ability for improved threat detection.

With these enhancements, you’ll be able to:

·         Quickly and securely enable branch/remote locations to conduct business outside the corporate office

·         Provide mobile users safe access to the internet so they can conduct business remotely

·         Deliver secure access to applications and provide consistent user protection for network alternative deployments 

·         Improve defenses against advanced mobile threats with deep insights

·         Quickly and securely deploy network alternatives, deliver secure access to applications, and provide consistent user experiences

·         Improve productivity by enabling safe mobile access to the internet and supply quick remediation capabilities in the event of a cyber attack

The security risks introduced

·         Increased attack surface: With millions and even billions more connected devices, 5G makes it possible for larger and more dangerous attacks. Current and future vulnerabilities of the existing internet infrastructure are only exacerbated. The risk of more sophisticated botnets, privacy violations, and faster data extraction can escalate with 5G.

·         More IoT, more problems: IoT devices are inherently insecure; security is often not built-in by design. Each insecure IoT device on an organization’s networks represents another potential hole that an attacker can expose.

·         Decreased network visibility: With 5G, our networks will only expand and become more usable by mobile users and devices. This means much more network traffic to manage. But without a robust wide area network (WAN) security solution like Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) in place, companies may not be able to gain the network traffic visibility required to identify abnormalities or attacks.

·         Increased supply chain and software vulnerabilities: Currently and for the foreseeable future, 5G supply chains are limited. Vulnerabilities exist — particularly as devices are rushed to market — increasing the potential for faulty and insecure components. Compared to traditional mobile networks, 5G is also more reliant on software, which elevates the risk of exploitation of the network infrastructure.

Question 11: How expensive is 5G technology?

5G phones are so expensive because the devices and the wireless networks they use cost billions to build. That price trickles down to you. There are a handful of 5G phones that cost less than $1,000, but they trade off features for price and many don't sell widely. Take, for example, the Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro. At $520, it sets an early blueprint for cheap 5G phones, but its limited availability keeps it from coming to US customers. By contrast, the cheapest 5G handset you can get in the US costs $840, with prices skyrocketing to $1,300 for phones like the Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G. Samsung's Galaxy Fold 5G costs over $2,000. (The new $1,500 Motorola Razr is 4G-only.) With 5G at such a premium, it'll take years for the benefits to become widespread at every tier. Here's what the roadmap looks like to get cheaper 5G phones for all.

Question 12: Does Ethiopia have 5G network?

ADDIS ABABA, May 9 (Reuters) - State-owned operator Ethio Telecom launched a 5G mobile phone service on Monday in a key step ahead of competition from new entrants in an industry that h Ethio Telecom Chief Executive Officer Frehiwot Tamru said the service will first be available in the capital Addis Ababa, before eventually spreading to other parts of the country.

"The 5G service is launched in selected places in Addis Ababa," she said at a launch event. "In the coming 12 months, we will have 150 5G sites in Addis Ababa and outside Addis Ababa."

Frehiwot did not say how much deploying the network would cost. as been closed for international players.

6. Conclusion

In this article we tried to give an overview on the 5G technologies. The focus key enabling technologies & architecture in 5G network, the importance of the technology, the disadvantages, the expense and how the technology works are stated. Future research direction & the main 5G implementation challenges & issues are discussed. Relevant article proposed efficient solution are also discussed. The contribution of key features of each technique was highlight.

 

During our research we have learned that there are a lot of misconceptions and blurred view on the technology and there is also a gap between the availability of researches and the demand. Specially the layman has a lot of questions and confusions about how the technology works, about the difference between the 5G and 4G technologies and different conspiracies have circulated and occupied the internet rather than authentic researches made by scholars of the field.

 

The deployment of 5G technologies is just beginning. Countries around the world are striving to be first to market with 5G technologies and services to capture the bulk of the economic benefits from this new technology. In the western world, private industry is leading deployment efforts. Government leaders are supporting 5G deployment by identifying and allocating spectrum for 5G use and streamlining rules related to siting of 5G small cell. However, there are factors that may hinder 5G deployment in the world especially in the developing countries like Ethiopia, including the complex spectrum allocation process, local resistance to small cell rules, and limitations on trade that may affect the availability of 5G equipment and devices. The expensive nature of 5G devices is also one problem that could minimize the speed of the growth of the technology and make its development mild. Development and deployment of 5G technologies are expected to extend through 2035.

7. Recommendations

The most challenging factors for the development of the 5G technology are the cost and the security threats we recommend the following points to reduce the risk factors on the advancement of the technology.

Understand the expanding attack surface: Take inventory of who (or which systems) can compromise the network to ensure system and data integrity. Study your options and explore the latest security software, tools, and services, so you find the ideal fit into an overall network and applications security architecture.

Work with the innovators: This will help you to understand their new products, services, and related business models, and become as competent as possible in understanding specific requirements for security, including securing voice, messaging, and embedded real time communications and collaboration.

Create a roadmap: This includes initial testing, thoughtful roll outs, and an eventual move to a full 5G platform. You must also architect the transformation knowing which locations, applications, services, people, and devices move to 5G, in what order, and why.

Constantly follow new cyberthreats: This includes those which have surfaced in the last few years for example, DDoS attacks on Dyn which took down PayPal, Twitter, and other massive online businesses, and the Mirai botnet pivoting into unprotected IoT devices before taking down entire networks.

Study up on new smartphones and other devices: Start planning your transition now by looking into new policies for BYOD (or provisioned company devices) and take the opportunity to include 5G in your regular refresh programs.

Invest in analytics and machine learning security tools: Manual security tactics are not sufficient enough to protect the enterprise. Enterprises will need to shift to analytics and machine learning-based approaches that provide real-time, automated mitigation to protect their employees, their brands, and their intellectual property. Proper defenses should include in-depth approaches that will monitor all data and broker automated actions within the enterprise, between the enterprise and service provider, and within the service provider’s network.

More and more organizations are getting ready for the arrival of 5G cellular service, including Verizon, Sprint and AT&T in the US. By the end of 2020, the industry expects to replace 4G. Before we make the transition to 5G, we must take the necessary steps to ensure mission-critical networks and applications are fully secure from the myriad of threats that this next-generation network can be exposed to.

8. Reference

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3.      Lee, J., Tejedor, E., Ranta-aho, K., Wang, H., Lee, K.-T., Semaan, E., Mohyeldin, E., Song, J., Bergljung, C. and Jung, S. (2018). Spectrum for 5G: Global Status, Challenges, and Enabling Technologies. IEEE Communications Magazine, 56(3), pp.12–18.

4.      Kim, Y., Sun, F., Wang, Y., Qi, Y., Lee, J., Kim, Y., Oh, J., Ji, H., Yeo, J., Choi, S., Ryu, H., Noh, H. and Kim, T. (2019). New Radio (NR) and its Evolution toward 5G-Advanced. IEEE Wireless Communications, 26(3), pp.2–7.

5.      Wang, D., Song, B., Chen, D. and Du, X. (2019). Intelligent Cognitive Radio in 5G: AI-Based Hierarchical Cognitive Cellular Networks. IEEE Wireless Communications, 26(3), pp.54–61.

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