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How 4G and 5G differ
- First and foremost, while the LTE-based 4G networks are going through a rapid deployment, 5G networks mostly comprise of research papers and pilot projects. The wireless industry is broadly targeting 2020 for the widespread deployment of 5G networks.
- Wireless networks till 4G mostly focused on the availability of raw bandwidth, while 5G is aiming on providing pervasive connectivity to lay grounds for fast and resilient access to the Internet users, whether they are on a top of a skyscraper or down under a subway station.
- Although LTE standard is incorporating a variant called machine type communications (MTC) for the IoT traffic, 5G technologies are being designed from grounds up to support MTC-like devices.
- The 5G networks are not going to be a monolithic network entity and will be built around a combination of technologies: 2G, 3G, LTE, LTE-A, Wi-Fi, M2M, etc. In other words, 5G will be designed to support a variety of applications such as the IoT, connected wearables, augmented reality and immersive gaming.
- Unlike its 4G counterpart, 5G network will offer the ability to handle a plethora of connected devices and a myriad of traffic types. For example, 5G will provide ultra-high-speed links for HD video streaming as well as low-data-rate speeds for sensor networks.
- The 5G networks will pioneer new architectures like cloud RAN and virtual RAN to facilitate a more centralized network establishment and make the best use of server farms through localized data centers at the network edges.
- Finally, 5G will spearhead the use of cognitive radio techniques to allow the infrastructure to automatically decide about the type of channel to be offered, differentiate between mobile and fixed objects, and adapt to conditions at a given time. In other words, 5G networks will be able to serve the industrial Internet and Facebook apps at the same time.
