What is 5G communication?

A world where 5G communications are active

5G is characterized by its ultra-high speeds, ultra-low latency, and multiple simultaneous connections. Utilizing these features, it will enable the transmission of 4K/8K high-definition video and immersive video using AR/VR, as well as autonomous driving support and remote medical care, expanding its applications in a variety of services and industries. The three characteristics of 5G communication are explained at the bottom of this page.

Use cases for multiple simultaneous connections

• Smart Agriculture

5G's massive connectivity will enable a huge number of sensors and devices to be connected simultaneously and send and receive data at high speeds, enabling IoT environments such as smart agriculture.

• Smart City

5G connectivity will enable high-speed communication between a wide range of devices and sensors connected to city-wide infrastructure and public services, enabling smart home and city developments such as traffic management, environmental monitoring, and energy efficiency.

Ultra-low latency communication use cases

• Telemedicine

Ultra-low latency communications enable high-speed, real-time communication between medical devices and robots and doctors, enabling remote surgery from distant locations, eliminating the need for doctors to be physically present on-site to perform surgery.

• Autonomous driving

Ultra-low latency communications enable high-speed, real-time data exchange between autonomous vehicles and transportation infrastructure and other vehicles, allowing them to understand their surroundings in real time and make quick, appropriate decisions.

Ultra-high-speed communication use cases

• Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR)

Ultra-low latency communications enables high-resolution VR and AR content to be transmitted and received at high speeds, enabling real-time experiences, creating realistic virtual spaces and augmented reality experiences.

• High-Quality Streaming

5G's high-capacity communications will enable high-speed streaming of media content such as high-quality video and music, making high-definition video distribution and real-time game streaming possible.

Transition of communication speeds up to 5G communication

• 1G only supported voice calls using analog radio waves, and there was no concept of data communication speed.
• As the 2G era began, email and other services began to become more widespread, and data communications were developed to accommodate this.
• With the expansion of web content in 3G, opportunities to view web pages and other content increased, and in response, communication speeds were successively improved from 3G to LTE (= 3.9G).
• 4G has made it possible to send and receive photos and video content, and with the spread of internet communications and other services, it has become possible to support even faster communication speeds.
• 5G has provided sufficient speed improvements to support downloading and streaming of increasingly large volumes of high-definition video.

Technology used in 5G ultra-high-speed communications (eMBB)

• Expanding communication capacity through MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology

By using multiple ANTENNAS (up to 128 in 5G communication), it is possible to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted simultaneously.
This technology makes it possible to prevent delays in communication speeds caused by communication congestion, even when multiple devices are connected, and to maintain comfortable communication speeds on each device.

Widening the frequency range used

Technology used in 5G ultra-high-speed communications (eMBB)

• Technology to widen subcarrier spacing

In order to support higher frequency bands, 5G communications employs several different modulation methods, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), with subcarrier spacings of 15, 30, 60, and 120 kHz. While the subcarrier spacing used in conventional 4G is 15 kHz, 5G communications uses wider OFDM subcarrier spacing, such as 120 kHz, which allows the same amount of information to be transmitted in a shorter period of time, thereby reducing the overall communication latency of 5G communications.

• MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing)

MEC is a technology that places computing resources at the edge of the network, allowing data processing and application execution to occur closer to users, enabling low-latency communications.

Technology used in 5G massively simultaneous connections (mMTC)

• What is Grant Free?

Normally, when communication begins between a terminal and a base station, information such as the frequency to be used and communication time is exchanged, after which the base station issues a grant, and the terminal transmits data using the method authorized by the base station.
Grant-free allows data to be transmitted without prior permission (grant) from the base station (i.e., free). This avoids communication congestion caused by sending and receiving prior permission (grant), and allows many devices to Access a single base station simultaneously. However, there is a risk of communication failure, but this risk is reduced by the design of a retransmission mechanism.

• Narrowband use

Smart meters, sensors, industrial robots, and other devices are expected to be connected simultaneously in 5G communications. These devices generally require small amounts of communication data. To address this issue, the frequency bandwidth used has been narrowed, and the extension of LTE-Advanced's NB-IoT and eMTC (enhanced MTC) has made it possible to connect a large number of devices simultaneously.
(Note: This is not compatible with high-speed broadband communication technology.)