What is 5G New Radio (NR)?
5G New Radio (NR) is a new radio access technology (RAT) developed by 3GPP for the 5G (fifth generation) mobile network. It was designed to be the global standard for the air interface of 5G New Radio (NR) networks.
The 3GPP specification 38 series provides the technical details behind NR, the RAT beyond LTE.
The study of NR within 3GPP started in 2015, and the first specification was made available by the end of 2017. While the 3GPP standardization process was ongoing, the industry had already begun efforts to implement infrastructure compliant with the draft standard, with the expectation that the first large-scale commercial launch of 5G NR would occur in 2019.
5G New Radio is far beyond what we think of as mobile phones today. We are at the beginning of a revolution in the world of connected things, and the first step towards the implementation of 5G (the latest generation of telecommunications networks) is already in full swing.
For some, the promise of 5G New Radio is simply to improve cellular functions, provide enhanced broadband power and increase mobile capacity and data rates. In fact, 5G New Radio network technology is 10 to 50 times faster than previous generations of cellular networks.
However, for others, new network technologies hold the key to shaping the future of almost every industry by radically changing the way machines interact and function. From manufacturing facilities maintained by hundreds of connected robots to self-diagnosed and updated cars, 5G will become the foundation of the Internet of Everything.
The benefits of 5G New Radio low latency
5G New Radio technology improves more than just connection speed-its biggest advantage is its ultra-fast response time, also known as latency. Compared with previous generations of cellular networks, 5G’s ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) really makes 5G New Radio stand out.
In fact, this technology makes the response speed 250 times faster than humans. For example, automakers can use the high reliability of 5G New Radio to avoid damage to auto parts, and because of 5G’s low latency, they can seamlessly keep up with the pace of the assembly line. This lays the foundation for supporting innovations that were previously impossible to achieve through other connectivity technologies.
Industries with strict connectivity requirements will benefit the most from 5G’s low-latency technology. In the automotive industry, 5G New Radio is the missing element for autonomous vehicles to achieve the highest safety.
This technology enables fast data transmission and can interact with roads and other vehicles at the level of collision avoidance and simplified driving. By connecting 5G vehicles, automakers can also obtain data insights and analysis for updating software or fixing problems remotely, thereby completely changing the experience of car owners.
Use 5G New Radio to change manufacturing
Similarly, in the manufacturing industry, 5G New Radio can support critical applications, which can lead to major reforms in automation and artificial intelligence. The 5G smart factory is already being tested, and Ericsson has cooperated with China Mobile to transform its radio product manufacturing base in Nanjing.
These companies use sensors to connect approximately 1,000 high-precision screwdrivers to collect and analyze large amounts of data. This data replaces manual tracking of tools, thereby reducing manual work by 50%.
The radio product factory now has the ability to maintain the connection between a large number of sensors and provide Ericsson with key data on the screwdriver. Through such a large-scale sensor deployment, other manufacturers will begin to implement human-machine collaboration and collaborative robotics technology to simplify factory operations.
5G in the cloud
As these robots become more complex and adapt in real time, they will require a large amount of processing data that a machine cannot maintain at all. 5G-enabled cloud robotics technology provides a solution that puts system intelligence in the cloud connected to ground robots.
The network provides key technologies to maintain continuous internet connectivity, remote computing, storage, data resources, data-driven intelligence, strong network security, and support for a large number of robots.
For example, in the hospital of the future, the cloud will act as the central brain, managing collaborative robots to guide patients or as a group of machines to deliver medicines.
How 5G New Radio will change real-time location services
5G New Radio technology also intends to use a single simplified infrastructure to change the real-time location service (RTLS) to improve accuracy. For example, 5G positioning can be accurate to the exact floor and location of the mobile phone to centimeter-level high-rise buildings.
This technology not only has the potential to significantly reduce overall infrastructure costs, but it can also open the door to a large number of new geographic information applications.
The current application of this technology involves asset tracking. In networked digital mining, automatic mining vehicles and drilling rigs can be marked and monitored from remote locations. However, 5G positioning is expected to go further and spread to indoor environments from 2023.
The precise positioning capability of the network enables the machine to be tracked or controlled when moving in the indoor factory workshop, which may revolutionize the industrial and warehousing application market.
Challenges of 5G New Radio implementation
The global deployment of 5G New Radio technology still faces huge challenges. Building infrastructure to support 5G requires a large amount of capital investment. 5G New Radio cannot use the 4G-LTE mechanism for power supply, so it is necessary to thoroughly overhaul the existing base stations, build smaller, lower-temperature towers and lay the fiber optic cable network connecting them.
In fact, a few years after the 5G New Radio transition, there are still some unresolved problems, and some consumers question the true added value of the new network. Nevertheless, due to lower maintenance costs compared to 4G-LTE, the transition to 5G New Radio is the only sustainable long-term solution.
The future of 5G New Radio
However, 5G New Radio enthusiasts understand that the cost of infrastructure is only a small price compared to the huge potential that 5G-driven innovation has in changing our world.
The positioning of the network is to fully deploy low-latency, large-scale Internet of Things in almost every industry. With the advent of large-scale machine-type communication (mMTC), mobile robots, and cloud robots, companies will experience large-scale process automation.
The platform will also reshape the consumer experience of electronic products, open a new era of mobile video, introduce the large-scale growth of the Internet of Things and smart devices, and more powerful AR/VR functions.
The global implementation of 5G New Radio requires a thorough reform of communications infrastructure, but the revolutionary promise of 5G New Radio far exceeds its obstacles.
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