5G speed vs 5G range-What is the value of 5G speed,5G range

This page defines 5G speed vs 5G range and mentions values of 5G speed and 5G range covered by 5G network.

What is 5G?

Introduction:
• 5G stands for Fifth Generation Wireless technology used for voice and data calls.
• It is cellular wireless technology similar to GSM (2G), CDMA (3G) and LTE/LTE-advanced (4G).
• It is defined in 3GPP NR specifications under various sections like 4G (LTE).
• It operates in various licensed and unlicensed bands e.g. below 1 GHz, below 6 GHz and above 6 GHz.
• It uses multiple antenna technologies such as Massive MIMO and advanced modulation techniques such as OFDM, FBMC, UFMC and GFDM etc.
• It has latency of less than about 1ms which minimizes connection setup time and delivers ultimate user experience with 5G network.

The figure-1 depicts 5G deployment scenarios in which 5G smartphones can be used. There are two modes viz. standalone and non-standalone. In non-standalone mode, 5G smartphone can leverage benefits of existing cellular network such as LTE/LTE-a. In standalone mode, 5G smartphone operates independant of any previous cellular networks. In this mode, it relies only on 5G network for control signaling as well as data channels.

5G Speed

• The term 5G speed refers to ratio of data transmitted in units of time over 5G cellular network. It is also known as 5G throughput.
• It is usually measured in Mbps or Gbps.
• The link from 5G smartphone towards 5G network (i.e. gNB or base station) is known as uplink where as the link from 5G network to smartphone is known as downlink. The speed or throughput in both downlink and uplink are different due to various parameters such as resource allocation, modulation schemes, MIMO, BF etc.
• 5G Speeds of about 20 Gbps in the downlink and 10 Gbps in the uplink are benchmarked by 5G operators once the 5G network matures.
• Recently many operators have achieved 5G throughput or 5G speed in the range of about 5Gbps.
• 5G network cell towers can support dozens of antennas in MIMO configuration in comparison to 4G LTE network cells which support maximum of 8 transmitters and 4 receivers.

5G Range | 5G coverage range

• Usually in cellular technology, range refers to area covered by cell towers to provide service to mobile phones or smartphones. It is also known as coverage range. In 5G network terminology, it refers to the range from 5G small cells to 5G compatible mobile phones or smartphones.
• 5G range is lesser than supported by 4G LTE or 3G networks. It is more of equivalent to wifi range than cellular range. This is due to number of factors as explained below.
• In 5G, mobile phones are connected to 5G small cells placed very close to them. These small 5G cells are connected with 5G cell towers in order to extend coverage in non-accessible areas. The 5G coverage concept is shown in the figure-2 above. This is due to the fact that 5G frequencies have lower wavelengths and they can not easily penetrate into solid objects such as walls, trees, cars etc.

• Small cells are portable base stations placed every few hundred meters (about 250 meters) throughout the city to provide cellular coverage. They are like wifi APs which operates in licensed spectrum and managed by network operators.
• The table shows different 5G range supported by 5G small cell types. As mentioned typically 5G cell type viz. metro cell covers range in few hundred meters.

5G NR Numerology | 5G NR Terminology

• 5G NR PHY timing unit • 5G NR SLIV • 5G NR Mini Slot • 5G NR Bandwidth Part • 5G NR CORESET • 5G NR DCI Formats • 5G NR UCI • 5G NR slot formats • 5G NR RRC IEs • 5G NR RSRP RSRQ SINR

5G NR Control channels | 5G NR Traffic Channels | 5G NR Reference Signals and sequences

• 5G NR SSB, SS, PBCH • 5G NR PRACH • 5G NR PDCCH • 5G NR PUCCH • 5G NR Reference Signals • 5G NR m-Sequence • 5G NR Gold Sequence • 5G NR Zadoff Chu Sequence

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