Marketing Head, India, Russia and Arabia, National Instruments
“With the rapid adoption of smart devices such as smartphones, tablets and even fablets, network capacity and bandwidth are being consumed at accelerated rates. In fact, industry analysts predict that wireless data demand will exceed 2009 levels by over 35× in 2014, and this growth rate is not expected to subside any time soon. Capacity is, in effect, a function of bandwidth. More bits transmitted faster free up spectrum for other users and their data demands. Doubling the data rate effectively increases the capacity by 2×. Therefore, the primary motivation for investments in 5G research is to increase network capacity via increased bandwidth and to avoid a capacity shortage”, says Abhay Samant, Marketing head for National Instruments – IndRA. Here Abhay discusses the 5G wireless revolution and NI 5G program.
Considering the rate at which wireless users are consuming data, there is genuine concern across the industry that, without significant technology upgrades, network capacity may become constrained in the not too distant future. Let us take, for example, current LTE quoted rates, 300 Mbps in the downlink and 150 Mbps in the uplink. These rates are about four to five times faster than 3G and 3.5G technologies. LTE-Advanced may essentially further double to quadruple data rates. So, in the span of the last 10 to 15 years, the world’s cellular operators increased capacity by 20×. In that same time frame, “demand” increased by more than 100×. It is clear that LTE-Advanced is necessary and that a new fifth generation network is critical. Wireless infrastructure companies and other members of the 3GPP standardization body, in fact, have set out a challenge to increase capacity by “1000× by 2020”. We are talking about 5G communications because it promises to solve many of these emerging problems.
5G Roadmap
Since the cell phone was first introduced many years ago, cellular infrastructure has undergone many transformations. The first generation cellular networks were based on “analog” technology such as Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS). The second generation (2G) systems featured digital technology utilizing standards such as Global System Mobile (GSM). In terms of capability, 2G added basic SMS (texting) to voice with limited wireless data capability. Web browsing on a 2G mobile device was limited. Wireless data was driven by texting, email and static photo transfers. 3G, or third generation networks, added a higher speed data capability where limited video could be transferred using Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA). Later evolutions of 3G included HSPA and HSPA+ (the equivalent of 3.5G) and delivered an enhanced user experience. However, big data applications such as streaming video were slow compared to WiFi or Wireless LAN speeds, which most consumers used as a comparison benchmark.
Today, network service providers are rolling out fourth generation (4G) networks based on Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE offers significant upgrades over 3G in terms of data throughput with up to five to six times faster peak rates. Most service providers plan to transition to LTE-Advanced, or 4.5G, which is expected to double the available bandwidth from LTE. With LTE and LTE-Advanced, wireless data consumers now have a communication technology that rivals current WiFi in terms of user experience.
5G Benefits
First of all there is much discussion regarding 5G – what it will be or what it will not be. We do know that 5G will have to be much faster than today’s 4G networks and the eventual LTE-Advanced (sometimes referred to as 4.5G). The real question is this: how do we achieve faster performance and high capacity with the current infrastructure including existing equipment, available spectrum and so on. The 3GPP standardization body is establishing an investigative group to explore the next generation wireless question, which, hopefully, will be kicked off early next year. The consensus is that there is no “silver bullet” or one technology that will lead to the necessary bandwidth expansion, but a combination of advancements such as heterogeneous networks encompassing small cells and coordinated multipoint, reallocation of spectrum, and other advanced techniques such as self-organizing networks (SON).
In order to increase spectrum efficiency and lower the intercell interference, several technologies are being researched today, such as heterogeneous networks, small cells, relays and coordinated multi-point. Essentially, the motivation behind these research vectors is to lower the load per base station by increasing the density, which in turn increases spectrum efficiency to users in a smaller geographic area. All of these options focus on deploying more infrastructure equipment and further increasing utilization by employing “smart” techniques (i.e., coordinated multi-point, beam forming, and so on). Fundamentally, by sharing network information at the base station level, load and coverage per user can be optimized to more effectively use the existing spectrum.
NI support for 5G research
National Instruments has been working with wireless researchers for a number of years through the RF/Communications Lead User program. Through this program, NI has been working directly with top researchers, such as Dr. Rappaport at NYU Wireless and also Dr. Gerhard Fettweis at TU Dresden, to explore a new approach to communications system design. Dr. Fettweis’ work is on new physical layers for 5G. He is already prototyping a new physical layer called GFDM or General Frequency Division Multiplexing, which addresses some of the shortcomings of OFDM – the standard in today’s 4G communications. Through this work, Dr. Fettweis has gone from simulation to prototype in a matter months. The Lead User program was the idea of National Instruments’ CEO and founder, Dr. James Truchard. Dr. Truchard believes that a new design paradigm is needed for research not just in wireless but across many different areas. Unlike so many other technologies that have improved our everyday life, the tools used in research to transition from design to simulation to prototype have not really evolved over the last 20 years. In particular, National Instruments focuses on a Graphical System Design approach to accelerate the process from design to simulation to prototype. The combination of this approach with tight hardware and software integration enables researchers to focus on their area of expertise rather than having to struggle with disparate tools and technologies that can take months and years to integrate into a working prototype.
NI and Nokia 5G program
National Instruments recently announced that it is working with Nokia’s Networks business to collaborate on advanced research related to fifth generation (5G) wireless technologies such as exploring peak data rates and cell-edge rates in excess of 10 Gbps and 100 Mbps, respectively. By using NI’s integrated hardware and software baseband platform, Nokia plans to expedite its research and rapidly demonstrate the viability of high-frequency millimeter wave as an option for 5G radio access technology. “Our experimental 5G Proof-of-Concept system will be implemented using NI’s LabVIEW and PXI baseband modules, which is the state-of-art experimental system for rapid prototyping of 5G air interface available today,” said Lauri Oksanen, Vice President of Research and Technology at Nokia. “We are thrilled to work with Nokia on this project and others involving wireless research,” said Eric Starkloff, NI Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing. “Our software-defined platform based on LabVIEW and PXI is ideal for researching and prototyping standards such as 5G.”
