Leveraging the potential of 5G millimeter wave

Since its initial rollout in 2019, service providers across the globe have hurried to have their networks 5G enabled and become the first 5G players in their respective markets. Many are now reporting that the mission-critical capabilities of 5G, such as superior speeds and low latencies, are quickly expanding the number of use cases and intensifying demands for data and performance.

When the 5G standardization process began, certain requirements were identified to provide connectivity for services with extreme requirements on availability, latency and reliability. These include enhanced mobile broadband services to smartphones and other mobile devices for video streaming via social media and realtime online gaming:

• 1,000 times higher data volumes
• 10-100 times more connected devices
• 10-100 times higher typical userdata rates
• Five times lower latency

In response, 5G radio frequency ranges were widened to meet the need for enhanced data and performance. They now include all those previously held by 4G, as well as more frequencies up to 6GHz (Sub-6) and the high band (mmWave) spectrums.

The Sub-6 5G capacity could theoretically run out in mature markets by 2023 as a direct result of the rise in data consumption. This would effectively make 5G mmWave a valuable resource for the continued offering of enhanced mobile broadband services .

The key to understanding 5G NR is that service providers employ a combination of radio frequencies to deliver high-speed data services to their end customers. For their part, 5G low, mid, and high bands each possess different capabilities with regards to speed and range.

5G low bands deliver 5G coverage over the longest distances. They are typically Frequency Division Duplex (FDD)-based and are either new (for example, 700MHz) or are already in use and can be repurposed for 5G via spectrum sharing. The low-band frequency family spans 600MHz through 2600MHz. The lower frequency characteristic of the low bands makes this spectrum especially well-suited for providing wide area coverage.

5G mid bands (Sub-6, also referred to as FR1) provide additional capacity, albeit across a shorter distance. They are typically found between 2300MHz and 6000MHz, where the 3500MHz frequency band is the most common for 5G rollouts. Mid bands are ideal for massive Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) technology deployments.

5G high bands (mmWave, also referred to as FR2) are found in the range of 24GHz to 40GHz. They deliver large quantities of spectrum and capacity over the shortest distances. They also use massive MIMO to expand capacity and extend coverage. Moreover, they include wide spectrum segments available for 5G along with lower latencies.

The introduction of new frequency bands for 5G is carried out in combination with existing bands used today by service providers. The combined effects of mixing the low, mid and high band for improved capacity and coverage are significant .

5G makes it possible to allocate high bands above 24GHz for telecom infrastructure. The availability of the new spectrum is dependent upon regulators freeing up spectrum for use by service providers. Spectrum allocations for mmWave are often extremely wide, with 800 MHz or more per service provider and band.

This enables the provision of high capacity delivery and improved handling of peak rates. Wide radio carriers are defined for the high band to be used within wide spectrum allocations. These wide carriers enable shorter transmission time intervals and lower radio-interface latency to facilitate the introduction of and support for low-latency-sensitive applications.

International harmonization of spectrum bands is critical for the development of 5G, including for mmWave ranges. The 28GHz (n257) band was identified very early on for 5G use by pioneering markets such as the US, Korea and Japan. The World Radio-communication Conference (WRC-19) later agreed that the ranges 24.25-27.5 GHz (n258) and 37-43.5GHz (n260 and n259) should be globally tagged for 5G.

Being a 5G mmWave spearhead, the US market is a frontrunner in the evolution of 5G and has already auctioned a total of 5GHz (5000 MHz) across four unique frequency ranges. The rest of the world is expected to begin by offering one mmWave band (n257 or n258), while auctioning additional mmWave bands during a second stage. Devices equipped with mmWave are projected to support both of the n257 and n258 band.

In the longer term, about 6GHz of total bandwidth is expected per country across two to three different bands. For service providers, this means revolutionizing capacities for 5G business in both the consumer and the enterprise segments. Endusers and corporations alike will enjoy mmWave 5G speeds in the region of 1Gbps downlink or more – way beyond those typically found in 4G or other legacy services of today.

Many scenarios using enhanced mobile broadband will directly benefit from high network capacity in urban environments. These include popular, crowded areas and hotspots with large numbers of smartphone users, for example stadiums or other large indoor events. Similarly, lastmile fiber/copper complements, and solutions like Ericsson’s mmWave portfolio for macro and street macro levels offer service providers the opportunity to seamlessly bring high-capacity connectivity to urban dwellers and professionals. Part of the Ericsson Radio System, street solutions are integrated elements of the network with feature parity and end-to-end performance.

Low latency characteristics of 5G mmWave will improve surveillance and video streaming/broadcasts, everywhere AR/VR for enhanced onling gaming experiences, and the evolution of the 5G smart factory. Within the wider framework of Industry 4.0, the 5G smart factory will help accelerate 5G deployment, create a substantial number of jobs, and usher in a promising new era of technological advancement.

Enhanced fixed wireless access is another growing source of revenue potential. Deploying dedicated sites for mobile broadband with the new available spectrum is quickly becoming an achievable business case, exploiting the high capacity and low latency characteristics of 5G mmWave and fixed wireless access. As fixed wireless access can be highly demanding of capacity resources, 5G mmWave is an attractive choice for supplying the required capacity with 400MHz-800MHz of spectrum.

Fixed wireless access installations can provide a cost-effective way to deliver fiber-like internet speeds wirelessly over 5G mmWave to homes and business everywhere – from urban to rural communities. It can also supply institutions such as schools, hospitals and town halls, and address last-mile challenges in rural areas.

Industrial and enterprise connectivity are expected to generate significant long-term revenue streams for service providers. The limited radio propagation of the 5G mmWave allows decent radio coverage to be contained within specific locations. In some countries, high-band spectrum allocations are being chosen for the next wave of Industry 4.0 applications, where wireless connectivity offers the necessary flexibility for installations and applications, and where low latency can be sustained.

While capacity remains the primary driver for choosing the high band, coverage is also important for a broader business case. Today, highband coverage is limited by radio uplink signal quality and high-band propagation characteristics.

Ericsson is evolving its 5G coverage solutions to maximize the benefits provided by the high band. 5G high-band coverage limitation is being mitigated by extending cell coverage using Ericsson 5G Carrier Aggregation. This way, service providers can support the 5G uplink on a low band with the 5G downlink operating on the high band, thereby providing not only better coverage but also increased capacity and higher data speeds.

Aggregating the 5G low band with the 5G high band can improve high-band coverage by up to 10dB extending the high-band cell coverage area by up to 3.7 times. The extended high band coverage also enables a greater offload of traffic from the lower band to the high band, providing a higher throughput at the cell edge. Ericsson 5G Carrier Aggregation equips service providers with the tools needed to optimize the use of their spectrum assets when deploying 5G. This will provide more subscribers with higher data speeds while enabling a host of new, low-latency applications.

Continuous innovation within Ericsson software has brought forward extended range capabilities for mmWave and fixed wireless access applications. These capabilities have already been proven in field. Using our extended range software, Ericsson has successfully delivered high data speeds on 26 GHz mmWave frequencies over a distance of 7 kilometers.

The 5G device ecosystem is expanding. During 2020 alone, more than 20 different smartphone models entered the market with support for high-band frequencies, albeit primarily for the US market. 2021 will be the year when manufacturers add mmWave support on devices sold globally. As smartphones mature, other devices supporting mmWave will surely follow, including fixed wireless access modems, industry robots, augmented reality glasses and other wearables.

• mmWave 5G spectrum is auctioned globally so it’s time to acquire and create business
• The device ecosystem is ready, 20+ models are available
• Fixed wireless access has the potential to create a mmWave boom
• mmWave long range software opens huge connectivity opportunities for suburban and rural communities

5G is enabling exciting new opportunities and will continue to do so long into the future. Deployment is happening as quickly as many expected and with it come numerous opportunities for the entire 5G ecosystem. 5G mmWave stands out among radio frequency bands for its high capacity and low latency characteristics. Some industries are already leading the way with highband ready user equipment. These capabilities will be further enhanced with 5G network slicing services.

Getting in on the action requires service providers to consider their approach to connecting 5G high band-compatible devices, as well as practical deployment strategies. These need to be optimized to meet their needs while counteracting the coverage-limiting effects of the 5G mmWave spectrum. Depending on service providers’ application aims, several viable 5G evolution and high-band deployment strategies are available. Spectrum is a critical asset for service providers and there are trade-offs within each spectrum band between capacity, coverage, and latency.

The wide range of use cases and demonstrated speeds confirm the usability of 5G mmWave for unparalleled network performance with smartphones, in homes and industrial settings. Ericsson offers a wide variety of innovative solutions to enable service providers to deploy 5G mmWave efficiently and with great performance results. Applying decades of experience within network distribution and optimization, Ericsson has been commercially deploying 5G on high bands as far back as 2018 for service providers in the US.

The Ericsson 5G portfolio has been continuously refined. The highband product success story is now widely adopted by 5G frontrunners around the world. A case in point is the award-winning Ericsson Spectrum Sharing software, which is currently expanding FDD-based 5G coverage for many service providers and mmWave coverage will be further expanded when aggregated with low band FDD spectrum. The unique dynamic solution enables service providers to quickly and costeffectively launch 5G in the same FDD band and on the same radio through a software upgrade. This way, spectrum allocating is done dynamically and economically, based on user demand on a 1 millisecond basis.

As 5G matures, service providers will need to focus on optimizing their use of the low, mid, and high bands to both serve existing use cases and generate new ones. 5G mmWave is a smart way to do both. A growing number of service providers are aware of this and are actively exploring ways to extend enhanced mobile broadband to enterprises and seize the Industry 4.0 opportunity. Ericsson has the vision, the know-how, and the technology to support them in every step of the way. Ericsson encourages service providers to evaluate the mmWave opportunity for their market, and the many benefits it promises.