New 5G standards: Personal network speeds no less than 100 Mbps downlink and 50 Mbps uplink

4G has not yet been fully popularized, but the related work of 5G has already begun. It is just that it may take a long time for it to enter the public. Recently, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announced the latest standard for IMT-2020 wireless interface performance. Although 5G is not mentioned, the organization has a unique naming, for example, IMT-2000 is the previous 3G, and later 4G added the IMT-Advanced specification. The official name of 5G this time is IMT-2020.

Currently, the ITU has proposed a draft report on IMT-2020. The final standard will not be finalized until November 2017. After the standard is perfected, the competition for spectrum sharing among countries will officially begin, and operators can truly enable 5G networks. That is still too far away. Let's take a look at the highlights of the specifications stipulated in this draft that are worth paying attention to.

According to the draft, IMT-2020 will usher in a leap in network speed, requiring each 5G base station to provide at least 20Gbps downlink and 10Gbps uplink bandwidth transmission performance. These speeds sound exaggerated, but remember that the base station serves a wide area and covers the entire population. The draft also requires that 5G base stations must ensure that user data connections on vehicles with speeds of up to 500 km/h are not interrupted, which means that there is no need to worry about the lack of 5G network signals when taking the high-speed rail.

If these specifications are reduced to the scope of individual users, the specifications require a minimum downlink speed of at least 100Mbps and an uplink speed of at least 50Mbps. Some people may say that the peak speed of the 4G LTE-A network has reached this number, but in fact it is not the case. Infrastructure configuration, signal coverage and population must also be considered. 5G is a hard standard, which represents a significant improvement. The actual situation will be much faster than the "maximum standard".

5G networks will also solve a major problem of 4G networks: latency. The draft stipulates that the maximum latency of users connected to 5G networks cannot exceed 4ms, and even maintain 1ms URLLC ultra-low latency communication. In contrast, the latency level in large cities that already have 4G networks is still in the range of 50ms-85ms. Therefore, not only will the data transmission speed be faster under 5G networks, but the time required for communication will be greatly shortened, and you can feel the real pleasure even when watching videos and playing games on mobile networks.

In addition, the draft also mentions many specifications on spectrum efficiency, density and energy consumption, requiring a single 5G network to carry at least 1 million devices per square kilometer. This number is not exaggerated. In the future, 5G devices will not only be smartphones, but also cars, traffic lights, billboards, IoT products and other devices.

In short, the draft 5G specification has been released, so the relevant practical considerations and revisions will be carried out in succession, but the earliest commercial use of 5G may have to wait until the end of 2018 or even longer.