What more can we say about 5G that hasn’t already been said? If you’ve followed this hype-loaded saga, you probably already know what’s going on. But as a casual observer, you may not be aware of the latest activities. Here’s a quickie update.
我们已经听到5G New Radio or 5G NR for years now. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) started working on this standard even before the LTE standard was complete. LTE, or 4G as some want to call it, turned out to be an exceptional wireless technology that most everyone is happy with. However, the industry and the standards people seemed hell-bent to work on 5G. And now that we’re nearing the end of the 5G development, we’re finally beginning to see real 5G action.
3GPP为5G的规定的目标是：
- 提供增强的移动宽带（EMBB）速度高达20 GB / s，并增加了约100倍的用户容量。您不会在实践中获得这种速度，但您应该将100 MB / s的下载速度从100 MB / s视为1 GB / s。
- Deliver ultra-reliable low-latency (< 1 ms) communications (URLLC) for critical applications.
- 实现大量机床型通信（MMTC）。包含LPWAN标准，如LTE-M和NB-IOT将提高IOT应用程序。
Those are tough goals, but most are being achieved. Latency is still an issue with best current levels in the 10- to 30-ms range. Much work must be done as advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), self-driving cars, and some factory applications will depend on it.
The electronic and telecom industries are thrilled to have 5G come online, as their bottom lines should be enriched. Yes, some 5G systems are now working at selected cities around the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., check the websites of AT&T and Verizon for coverage; they are currently the main carriers. Many industry observers and potential customers feel that the rollout is too slow. And it has been. Not only because it’s an incredibly complex technology, but also for business and political reasons. Here’s a summary of its current status.
The Battle for 5G Supremacy
显然，我们正在击倒，与中国的拖延战争，谁将首先获得完整的5G服务，谁将控制技术，设备，以及某种程度的市场。去年，FCC和其他人煽动了美国领先地位。今年，大多数似乎认为中国正在获胜。
China is much bigger than the U.S. population-wise with about 1.4 billion people. And the government funds the 5G effort. As a result, it’s believed that they have already deployed more 5G cells than in the U.S. Plus, the Chinese carriers don’t have to bid on and pay for spectrum as carriers do in the U.S.
Another big reason why China is ahead is the Chinese company Huawei. Huawei is the world’s largest supplier of telecom gear and third in smartphone sales behind Samsung and Apple. The U.S. no longer has a home-based company making cell-site and other equipment. Instead, U.S. carriers rely on Ericsson of Sweden and Nokia of Finland for their cell sites.
华为问题
The U.S. government claims that Huawei makes its telecom equipment such that they can spy for China. Our government thinks that their equipment has clever features that could be called up remotely to eavesdrop, steal information, and perhaps even to shut down service at any time. I’ve never seen or heard of any firm evidence of this, but the government is paranoid about it and has basically forbidden U.S. telecom companies from buying Huawei equipment for their 5G systems.
In addition, the government has tried to discourage the telecom companies in Europe and other locations not to buy Huawei gear. That has fallen on deaf ears—a number of European companies have already bought Huawei equipment because its cost is so significantly lower than what Ericsson and Nokia charge.
最新计划是商务部发布了禁止美国半导体公司向华为销售关键芯片的需求。由于华为全球华为的规模和市场渗透率，他们从美国公司购买IC的船舶，他们讨厌失去这些销售。政府可以允许销售一些普遍的IC，但不是真正的创新高科技的东西。目前，大多数研究人员似乎认为，截至目前，中国在5克领先美国。我们是否对此做了什么，或者真的很重要吗？
什么是你的背部？
There are a couple of reasons for the slow progress toward a nationwide 5G network. First, as most of you know, there are still some spectrum shortages. 5G takes a great deal of bandwidth to fully achieve the peak goals stated for it. Channel widths typically run 20 MHz, but they can be 40, 80, or even 160 MHz when using the advanced orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) modulation modes. That kind of bandwidth just doesn’t exist for some carriers.
FCC通过试图从合适的频谱的电流持有者获取未使用或空置光谱来致力于解决问题。一旦他们得到它，FCC就希望拍卖到最高投标人。实施这些销售的拍卖是耗时的设置和行为。有些人花了几年才能完成。并且电信公司遭到巨大的成本（数十亿美元），刚刚传递给订户。一些倡导者消除了拍卖并创建了一种新的快速跟踪方式来获得更快地分配的频谱。
如果这还不够，一些私人投资者，政府机构和大公司正在持有他们没有使用的频谱 - 他们拒绝放弃。一个例子是位于GPS（1.57542GHz和1.2276 GHz）附近的最佳频谱块的命运。索赔是任何附近的任何电池服务都会干扰GPS导航。虽然已经进行了测试以确保这不是一个麻烦，但该频谱的控制器赢得了战斗。
另一个意外问题是良好位置缺少良好的位置，以连接将是5G系统的核心的小小区。当毫米波（MMWAVE）频带最终打开时，将需要许多这样的电池。最初，大多数美国5G系统将在6 GHz以下运行。一些地方政府正在拒绝允许运营商将小型细胞附加到一些可以使用的建筑物，灯极和其他城市所有的基础设施。在其他情况下，租赁成本高，当地政府延误在该国的某些地区受到了卷扬机。
当然，还有建设全新无线网络的高成本。电信公司将花费数十亿美元，因为所有新设备都是必需的 - 以及更多它 - 提供足够的一个地区的覆盖范围。并且该装备比今天的细胞位点更复杂和昂贵。毫无疑问，有些航空公司正在撤销这项投资。
Recent FCC Actions
我为FCC学分提供了实际上关于频谱问题的事情。一些行动应该早先采取，但我们在这里。好消息是，一些新的发展都在频谱前面：
- The FCC is auctioning off 3400 MHz of bandwidth in the mmWave bands of 37, 39, and 47 GHz in 100-MHz blocks. That’s a massive amount of spectrum and it will be a while before we see some activity in those bands.
- FCC很快将投票决定释放sp 300 MHzectrum in the highly desirable C band (3.5 to 8 GHz) for mobile and fixed wireless service. This is spectrum that will come from satellite companies operating in that range.
- The FCC will vote on improvements to the “white spaces,” the unused TV channels that can be used without a license. The Commission will vote on issues like opening more channels, boosting transmit power, and increasing tower heights. One key goal is to provide better options for implementing fast and reliable broadband wireless services in the many underserved rural areas.
大合并
T-Mobile has been wanting to buy Sprint for years. It’s been turned down twice before as the Justice Department felt that it would reduce the competition and increase the costs to subscribers. That’s never been proven, but the threat is there. Last year, the third and fourth largest cellular companies by number of subscribers tried again. This time a coalition of states again warned that a monopoly with all of its negative outcomes would occur if such a merger was made.
In February, a judge finally approved the $26.5 billion merger, and finalization of the merger was announced on April 1. The combined company will be in third place behind the leaders Verizon and AT&T. However, it will come closer in size to AT&T and Verizon and should be a formidable competitor. I suspect that if the merger hadn’t been approved, Sprint may have eventually gone broke and out of business, leaving a much smaller T-Mobile to compete with the top guns. The new combined company, named T-Mobile, can now go ahead with their plans for 5G systems.
还有一件事。这些合并交易，尤其是那些必须通过法院的人，通常涉及其他不太明显的活动和权衡。T-Mobile和Sprint都不得不放弃一些资产（如某些频谱）来扣除合并。除了那些优惠之外，“那些”的权力“鼓励（要求？）Dish Network来推出蜂窝/ 5G业务。凭借其大规模未使用的频谱持平，它们可能成为新的第四大蜂窝提供商。
Just a Thought
一个热门行业现在是塔业务。在他们的塔楼租用空间到无线运营商的公司正在做得很好，并且由于所有新的5G天线所需的空间，商业将会显着增长。用于MIMO，敏捷波束形成天线和相控阵的5G天线更大，需要特定的高度。观看美国塔，皇冠城堡和SBA Communications等公司，以了解他们在未来几年的表现。
那么我们现在在哪里？
一般共识是，卷展栏将减速一段时间。一些组件和设备制造商实际上预测了今年的销售额较低。但是，将取得进展。3GPP标准将致力于结论。我们应该在今年晚些时候查看16（MIMO和MMWave增强功能），并在2021年的某个时候发布17（以上52-GHz MMWAVE修改加M2M增强）。我打赌3GPP已经期待着开始6G。毫无疑问，将参与人工智能和机器学习。
During the year we should also see more 5G smartphone vendors. To date there’s been a shortage of vendors and 5G phones. But that’s changing. Samsung, the smartphone leader, announced its new Galaxy S20 5G phones. There are three models with ever-better AMOLED screens of different sizes and improved cameras. All work on a mixed bag of frequencies, all below 6 GHz. Millimeter-wave phones will come later. S20 phone pricing is $1,000 for the low-end model and $1,400 for the top of the line. Maybe paying that premium price for mainly a better camera is okay for some, but others will expect something better.
Samsung also introduced its new 5G flip phone. Called the Galaxy Z-Flip, it has a split screen that flips open like the popular flip phones of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Remember Motorola’s massively popular Razr? The rumor is that they will soon produce a 5G version. People seem to love this format even though it’s more likely to fail than a standard no-flip smartphone. Price for the Z-Flip is $1,380.
Huawei also announced a folding phone. Called the Mate-X, it comes in several sizes and has a Leica-brand lens in the camera. The top of the line model will sell for $2704. Like the other smartphone vendors, Huawei is hoping the new models will help boost declining smartphone sales.
I’m still wondering if the extra speed and lower latency offered by 5G are really needed. Most people I talk to don’t have any applications on their smartphones that need such speed. Plain-old LTE is good enough for most, including me, for now. But I’m keeping an open mind about 5G. And I’m starting to save up.
