What Do You Want to Know about 5G?

Where do MCU's with low data requirements fit in 5G?

I’d like to better understand the two frequency bands, FR1 and FR2. What are the bands, why are there two, and how/when will they be used?

Is FR1 any different than LTE? Will devices support hand offs from the smaller FR2 coverage to FR1?

Last, is there any benefit for a low bandwidth IoT/M2M device to use 5G?

For very good information about the state of 5G listen to TheAmpHour #430.

https://theamphour.com/430-shahriar-discusses-5g/

An eyeopener of how different it is to current technologies. And the history bits are surprising too.

- W.

I am interested mainly in use cases that do not require high data bandwidth, so I would like to know, what benefits (if any) will 5G have over 2G/4G low power, low data rate services.

I am curious to know why I should worry about this technology.

DAB

https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/faster-internet-wellington-coming-spark-launches-5g-mobile-test-site

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business-video/news/video.cfm?c_id=1503079&gal_cid=1503079&gallery_id=200855

The spectrum issue was discussed and yes it is an issue here as well.

Mark

As Gough Lui points out there will be huge issues with allocating adequate spectrum that can have decent reach and penetration, which means the cells will need to be much closer together, which means much larger infrastructure cost. Obviously it will become feasible in urban areas faster than sparse population areas. I am not to concerned with whether it will happen, but predictions about when it will happen are of interest. I am interested in the applications for it as these will drive demand for the build-out.  Predictions about the cost are also of interest because that will affect adoption rates.  At this stage 5G has been demonstrated and technical solutions exist, the big gap is in stirring up enough interest in applications to get regulators moving and investors eager to pony up.

One question would be the choice of such high frequencies - be in 20ish or 40+50ish Ghz which is not going to propagate too efficiently or be easy to efficiently generate (i.e. translating to higher current draw or shorter battery life).

Another would be whether 5G is supplementary to 4G/LTE-A - i.e. intended to provide close proximity high speed solutions to offload areas with extreme density (e.g. a train station) while leaving LTE-A to serve the more distant clients.

Finally, the "smart antenna" beamforming is becoming more and more complex, moving from single digit MIMO ability to now double digits of driven elements. The phasing and generation of such signals are going to be extremely complex to achieve in realtime realtime especially for moving platforms with continually changing propagation conditions - what is the secret to this? Why is it achievable now? Is it due to an increase in sophistication in UE? Is there base to base cooperation - e.g. DIDO rather than MIMO?

- Gough