Microwave Journal editors Pat Hindle and Gary Lerude review the Jan Radar & Antennas issue products, industry news and upcoming events. Sponsored by Wireless Telecom Group.
5G critical communications is one of the most sought after features of upcoming 5G networks. There are many industries, such as industrial robotics/factory automation, autonomous vehicles, traffic, public safety, fire, operations, emergency medical services, and even military/defense that all may benefit from enabling features and technology capabilities offered by mission critical 5G functions. One of the main 5G feature areas of interest to these applications is ultra-high reliability and low latency (URLLC) communication features. With 5G, the acknowledgement mechanism used to recover from lost data, reduced infrastructure latency, and other enhancement are proposed to dramatically reduce the round-trip latency and improve reliability in 3GPP Release 16/17.
As the current 3GPP release, release 15, focuses on enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), 5G URLLC and critical communications applications are still pending standards and technology development. However, proposed changes to 5G mobile networks and standards is already garnering interest from many applications, as the 5G New Radio (NR) architecture is planned to enable a wide variety of use cases that are otherwise underserved by previous cellular technology generations. For instance, a concept has been proposed for 5G that would allow for logical partitioning of traffic into dedicated streams with deterministic transmission characteristics. A process known as network slicing, can allow for a single radio interface to support both consumer and enterprise traffic, which could also be used to facilitate a pipe that is either dedicated, or better suited to critical communications compared to the single-pipe consumer-driven architecture of previous generations.
However, mission critical 5G and the infrastructure necessary to make it success may still be years away following standardization (IHS predicts these standards won’t be finalized until 2022). Currently, there are mission critical LTE technologies that still provide a reliable communications platform for public safety, emergency response, and other industries. These standards have pioneered LTE-based mission critical push-to-talk voice communication services. These services are currently operational in several countries and provide much-needed enhancements over consumer-grade LTE communication services.
Where many generations of cellular technology required entirely new hardware, for both the infrastructure and user equipment (UE), it is likely the 5G standards will be designed in such a way to be back-compatible with the later 4G LTE deployments. Some 4G LTE deployments are even being designed with configurability in mind to allow for “future-proofing” while 5G features are defined, developed, and deployed over the next few years. It is also likely that LTE will continually be progressed in the upcoming 3GPP standards to eventually merge into 5G, as opposed to a complete technology swap resulting in mass obsolescence.
There are also other non-public network (NPN) technologies that exist, and have been deployed by governments and private companies. These NPNs may be 3GPP-based with modifications that provide enhanced customer features beyond what Wi-Fi, CDMA450, LMR/P25/TETRA, Ethernet, fiber, Bluetooth or other available wired/wireless standards offer. Hence, there are several current solutions for mission-critical applications that may eventually merge or diversify as 5G standards for URLLC and critical communications are realized and solutions become available.
The post 5G Update Series: Mission Critical Applications for 5G appeared first on Pasternack Blog.
Anritsu Co. introduces an option for its Wireless Connectivity Test Set (WLAN Tester) MT8862A that supports the latest IEEE 802.11ax standard.
Averatek Inc. has announced Calumet Electronics as its first A-SAP™ licensee.
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF have succeeded in developing a novel type of transistor with extremely high cut-off frequencies: metal oxide semiconductor HEMTs, in short MOSHEMTs.
Audi of America, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Qualcomm Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc., announced plans for initial deployments of C-V2X communication on northern Virginia roadways, employing advanced wireless communications to enhance vehicle safety by using the same portion of the 5.9 GHz band that the FCC has proposed to allocate for C-V2X.
Anritsu Co. introduces the ShockLine™ MS46131A USB vector network analyzer (VNA), the industry’s first modular 1-port VNA that supports measurement frequencies up to 43.5 GHz.
Signal Microwave has launched a new line of higher performance edge launch connectors designed for the thinner substrates used today.
BAE Systems Inc. announced it has reached definitive agreements for the proposed acquisitions of Collins Aerospace’s military Global Positioning System (GPS) business and Raytheon’s Airborne Tactical Radios (ATR) business.
