Samsung Reveals 5G Mobile Technology Breakthrough

[dgstorm]

Over the weekend, Samsung announced they have attained a breakthrough in 5G wireless networking speeds. They reported their new 5G is "hundreds of times faster" than current 4G speeds. They achieved 1Gbps transmission speeds, resulting in the ability to download a whole ultra-high def movie in seconds. They anticipate being able to achieve peak speeds in the “tens of Gbps.”

What is most intriguing about their breakthrough compared to the other Advanced LTE network technologies being developed is that Samsung's version uses 28 GHz ultrahigh frequency bandwidths instead of the 6 GHz bandwidths of competing standards. This frequency range will be able to sustain higher speeds at greater distances, even up to 2 km.

Samsung is planning to commercial their new breakthrough by 2020. Between now and then, some of the other competing standards are likely to gain some marketshare in isolated areas throughout the globe. In fact, the European Union recently announced they are investing 50 Million Euros into 5G network technology, with plans to launch in the same time-frame. However, Samsung's advancement could overshadow the other options because of its greatly increased range.

Source: Samsung

 

[pc747]

We will just need a battery that can handle it. Hmmm

By 2020 we should have the battery tech to support it. Still do we really need phones that can handle those type of speeds?
No, but that don't mean anything because many of us will be in line for 5g phones.

 

[dgstorm]

Yeah. I think there is a need to develop these ultra-fast wireless standards. Even if we don't really need it for our phones, in the long run wireless networks could completely replace wired networks. It will likely be decades in the future, but eventually it will likely happen, and only because they are pushing this tech now.

Besides, like pc747 said, how many of us would actually say, "Nah. I don't want to download anything faster, I'll stick with my slower internet?" :blink:

 

[guidot]

Wireless networks will never replace wireline networks. Fairly certain physics is at work when wireless can't be as fast as fiber. The speed of light...

 

[NeoPhoenixTE]

Wireless networks will never replace wireline networks. Fairly certain physics is at work when wireless can't be as fast as fiber. The speed of light...

..but...isn't wireless radio already a type of light wave outside our visible spectrum? Wouldn't that already be speed of light?

 

[VirtualCLD]

..but...isn't wireless radio already a type of light wave outside our visible spectrum? Wouldn't that already be speed of light?

That's exactly correct (well within reason, technically light travels at different speeds in different mediums, so the speed of light in fiber != speed of light in atmosphere). What people sometimes fail to realize is that the speed of information is roughly the same, but the amount of information is very different. I could simultaneously send 1 bit of data and 32-bits of data at the same moment from the same source to the same destination and they would arrive at exactly the same time (ignoring multipath). Of course the 32-bit data I sent contains more information than the 1-bit information, but they took the same amount of time to travel.

Basically, I'm leading up to the definition of bandwidth, which goes into the spectral efficiency of fiber vs wireless. Long story short, you get a lot more bandwidth/spectral efficiency in fiber vs wireless so it is much easier to send more data through fiber at a given rate than wireless.

Also I wanted to start this little old argument again:

They reported their new 5G is "hundreds of times faster" than current 4G speeds. They achieved 1Gbps transmission speeds, resulting in the ability to download a whole ultra-high def movie in seconds.

So basically, they've finally demonstrated TRUE 4G technology as defined by the technical standard: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4G#Technical_definition

 

[trestevenson]

My chin hurts from my jaw hitting the floor. 1Gbps wireless transmission speeds within this decade? Yes, please!

 

[Narsil]

We will just need a battery that can handle it...

 

[kodiak799]

I think you still need the pipes, but this could completely revolutionize how we connect to the internet. You would no longer have to wire every house and every street, and for that kind of bandwidth both cable and internet could be wirelessly linked to central pipes. Goodbye data caps and hello cheaper prices.

 

[PhreighnQ]

I look forward to being able to pass my data limit within seconds of the new billing period starting.

 

[guardlights]

That's exactly correct (well within reason, technically light travels at different speeds in different mediums, so the speed of light in fiber != speed of light in atmosphere). What people sometimes fail to realize is that the speed of information is roughly the same, but the amount of information is very different. I could simultaneously send 1 bit of data and 32-bits of data at the same moment from the same source to the same destination and they would arrive at exactly the same time (ignoring multipath). Of course the 32-bit data I sent contains more information than the 1-bit information, but they took the same amount of time to travel.

Basically, I'm leading up to the definition of bandwidth, which goes into the spectral efficiency of fiber vs wireless. Long story short, you get a lot more bandwidth/spectral efficiency in fiber vs wireless so it is much easier to send more data through fiber at a given rate than wireless.

Also I wanted to start this little old argument again:

So basically, they've finally demonstrated TRUE 4G technology as defined by the technical standard: 4G - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From the high level engineering standpoint, you have to consider that with a point to point fiber connection, the transmission medium meets loss budget design parameters, and the multipathing in fiber that would have a tendency to "smear" the shape of the bits is extremely small. That allows the bitstream used in fiber to be very efficient, since from point to point, the transmission environment is well defined and does not change. Once the fiber link is set up, environmental conditions do not determine the bit error rate.

With radio transmission, like the OFDM CDMA and the variants used for LTE, and the 5G in this thread, the bit stream is highly redundant, meaning that its designed to tolerate bit transmission errors. but the price you pay for that is that is the bitstream has to contain overhead that includes error correction and redundant bits. The raw bit rate is high, but the effective bit rate is lower.

the reason you need all of this built in is to account for the uncertainty in the transmission environment. multipath, drop outs, etc. none of that is required in fiber.

so the exact speed of light is not a material factor, considering what is going on just to send the message