The path to 5G mobile networks

The path to 5G mobile networks
An outlook on forthcoming technologies
Authors : Nour El Ansari, Marie Macé, Ouassim Driouchi, and Karol
Abramowicz
February, 2017

© 2017 BearingPoint France SAS 2
Comparison of design targets for 4G and 5G
5G target design is revealing a real gap with the current 4G requirements
IMT = International Mobile Telecommunications.
User Experienced
Data Rate
(Mbit/s)
Spectrum
Efficiency
Mobility
(km/h)
Latency
(ms)
Connection
Density
(devices/km2)
Network Energy
Efficiency
Area Traffic
Capacity
(Mbit/s/m2)
Peak Data Rate
(Gbit/s)
1
500400
3x
100
20
10
100x
106
10x
1
10
350
1x
105
1x
0,1
1
10
IMT-Advanced
(4G)
IMT-2020
(5G)
IMT-Advanced compliant standards:
LTE Advanced
WiMAX (IEEE 802.16m)
3.9G compliant: LTE, WiMAX (R2), Ultra Mobile
Broadband, Flash-OFDM, iBurst & MBWA
IMT-2020 compliant standards:
Conceptual

5G is not just a new dimension of bandwidth for mobile communication – It is a real start for the
worldwide IoT
Why 5G is important?
Gbps peak data
rate (theoretical
maximum)
millisecond
end-to-end round trip
delay (latency)
yearsbattery life for
low power, machine-type devices
% reduction in
network energy usage
% availability
% coverage
Gbpsend user
experienced data rate
million
devices / km2
Mbps/m2
area traffic capacity
km/h
mobility
minutes / days
service deployment time
<
4G
1
10
0,1-1
0.01
1
1
10
0,1
10
90
90
500
350
10-100
0,1
100
99,998
90
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
5G

Example: benefits for the Automobile Industry
Why 5G is important?
Requirement Benefits for automobile industry
Very high bandwidth – up to 10 Gbps • Suitable for high volume car-to-car communication
• Frequent, high volume OtA (over the air) updates for new apps and content
• Additional possibilities for new application
Low costs per Gbyte • Frequent, high volume OtA (over the air) updates for new apps and content
Low latency • Enabler for real-time car-to-car communication (e. g. emergency alerts, rapidly
changing traffic conditions - frog, black ice danger, unexpected panic braking)
Low power consumption • Can make future planed, additional on-board 42V power supply obsolete
• Always on (Current vehicles need some time to wake up electronics)
• A number of communication modules can be built in into vehicle (i. e. engine,
caravan, multiply alarm device to reduce risk of vehicle theft)
• Spontaneous communication between fuel tank and petrol pump
Multicast • Connection between vehicles (platooning), traffic control
High availability • Suitable for critical application
Ability to serve very high number of devices • Suitable for critical application
International standard • Build once – deploy everywhere

2012 2013-2014 2015-2016 2017-2019 2018
Lighthouse
projects
• South Korean SK
Telecom plans to
demo 5G in 2018 at
the Pyeongchang
winter Olympics
• Ericsson and Russian
MNO MTS plan to
demonstrate 5G
before World Cup
2018
• Ericsson and
TeliaSonera plan to
make commercial
service available in
Stockholm and
Tallinn by the end of
2018
Development of
alliances
Asia takes lead
Birth of the
5G idea
• “IMT for 2020 and
beyond” launched
by ITU to set scene
for 5G
• METIS* kicked off
by EU to define 5G
(incl. 29 partners
coordinated by
Ericsson)
• Asia “awakens” and
triggers definition
of 5G requirements
• Huawei, Samsung,
NSN and Ericsson
start developments
• First experimental
trials using higher
frequency bands by
NTT Docomo
(Japan)
• 5G Public Private
Partnership
announced in MWC
(in Barcelona)
• Most active
manufacturer is
Huawei
• First E2E network
slicing with low
latency (<1ms)
shown by Huawei,
DT, Samsung,
Stanford University
at MWC 2015
• All top Telcos &
network supplier act
in various
standardisation and
development
groups
Rise of 5G
• Definition of 5G
requirements and
standard
• Supplier plan to
finalise test
networks
• Development of 5G
products
• Further releases of
LTE (until
Rel. 16)
2020 - 2022
Commercial
Deployments
• 2020: First
comprehensive
commercial
deployments are
expected mainly in
Eastern Asia
• 202X: Further
commercial
deployments are
expected in Europe
5G is still at an early stage but initial steps have been made in Asia and Europe
What has happened by now towards 5G?
* METIS: Mobile and wireless Enablers for the Twenty-twenty Information Society 5G

Before 2020, new 4G-related standards and initiatives will enable voice and data enhancement
On the road to 5G, voice will be quickly enhanced, and data capacity will follow
voice data
how?
With VoLTE and VoWifi, voice becomes just
another application enabled by mobile data
LTE-U, LTE-LAA, LTE-LSA, and LTE-M allow
extending LTE to new spectrum bands to extend
capacity and types of devices (IoT)
ready coming
soon
roadmap&maturity
Commercially available in 2-4 years
 LTE-x technologies are still in a trial phase and
will be available in 2018-2019.
 LTE-U : Ericsson & Qualcomm started trials
since 2014. MTN & US operators joined them
in 2016
 LTE –M : after a standardization phase, Sierra
Wireless plans to launch a 1st field prototype
in 2017.
Commercially available
 By 2017, most operators will provide VoLTE &
VoWifi.
 Currently :
 VoLTE & VoWifi are available in US + APAC,
rolling-out in Europe
 VoLTE : launched by 60+ operators in 39
countries
 VoWifi : launched by 100 operators

Both customers and operators will benefit from these 4G enhancements
 LTE-U & LSA will improve the bandwidth for existing
apps without heavy network spendings
 LTE-M will enable new IoT applications
better voice experience due to :
 [VoLTE] lower latency for connection
 [VoX] more stability in data rate (QoS)
 [VoX] ability to use a data connection meanwhile
 [VoWiFi] better indoor coverage
reduced call charges, mainly in roaming situations
Telemedicine, with VoWiFi
patients and doctors can communicate visually and
verbally as they review a patient’s vitals dashboard
in real time
improved bandwidth & latency useful for
gluttonous services :
 video : high quality (4K), live streaming,
videoconferencing…
 live gaming
 telemedicine
energy savings can be made in smart buildings in
which water & electricity consumption are
monitored and adapted to weather conditions
 enabling unified communication services
 increased network capacity with limited
investment
 off-loading mobile networks on local networks
like WiFi
 get more revenues from data OTT services like
streaming & gaming without buying spectrum
 improve market share on the IoT market
without spending on expensive LPWA networks
customers
operators
use case
Smart Buildings, with LTE-M
 VoLTE : a better voice quality for customers, and an
enabler for unified communication services
 VoWifi : roaming savings with better indoor coverage,
and a way to off-load mobile networks
minor
benefits
major
benefits
voice data

The Promise
NFV/SDN increases flexibility and responsiveness for networks operations, and hence brings an
adapted response to customers and operators need for quick network services evolutions
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networks (SDN)
might speed up the integration of these enhancements on operator’s networks
• Rapid service innovation and expansion with less risk
• Elastically scale and utilize network resources more
efficiently
• Lower operating costs through homogenized physical
infrastructure
NFVSDN
• Separation of control and forwarding functions
• Centralization of control
• Ability to program the behavior of the network using
well-defined interfaces
Why is it important ?
4G Mobile Network functions, such as Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and
voice over LTE (VoLTE), are now deployable in the cloud.
This will enable an easier upgrade and scalability for Network
functions and applications. Particularly because the services and
functions that relay on the 4G core (optimization, analytics, security,
etc.) are very well suited to virtualization and NFV.
For example, thanks to NFV/SDN:
• a virtualized 4G core network could be deployed on a local server in
a factory, to speed-up network’s response time. At the same time,
for the factory’s IoT needs, it should be possible to support LTE-M
functions from a centrally placed installation.
• CSPs should be able to support “network slicing” to achieve
network behavior differentiation, on-demand, and on a per-
customer or per-application/use case basis.
These types of abilities enabled on 4G networks are some of the guidelines that will be at the heart of 5G.
Specialists foresee that NFV/SDN will play a core role in designing performant and secure 5G networks.

As a conclusion : 5G is highly promising but still far. However, new services can be enabled by
4G evolutions and NFV/SDN to quickly fulfill some “advanced” industrial requirements
Requirement
Client satisfaction level by
LTE as of 2016 Advanced 4G-evols 5G
Very high bandwidth Partially Yes
Low costs per Gbyte Yes Yes
Low latency Partially Yes
Low power consumption Yes Yes
Multicast Yes Yes
High availability Partially Yes
Ability to serve very high number of devices Partially Yes
International standard Yes Yes
1G 2G 3G 4G
4.xG
(VoLTE, VoWifi, LTE-U, LTE-LSA,
LTE-M)
5G
(IMT-2020)
• Basic voice service
• Analog-based
protocols
• Designed for voice
• Improved coverage
and capacity
• First Digital
standards (GSM,
CDMA)
• Designed for voice
with some data
consideration
(multimedia, text,
Internet)
• First mobile
broadband
• Designed primarily
for data
• IP-based protocols
(LTE)
• True mobile
broadband
• Extended to include
« voice as an app »
• Better bandwidth by
extending to new
spectrum bands
• Designed for a wide
range of devices
including IoT with
high performance
(speed, energy)
• Real-time mobile
broadband
2.4 kbps 64 kbps 2 Mbps 100 Mbps 1 Gbps 50 Gbps
An ever-increasing Need For Speed…

The path to 5G mobile networks

The path to 5G mobile networks

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