Okay so like…what is 5G?
The history of RAN
0G
After World War II, wireless telephones became available to the general public. The era before cellular networks is often referred to as 0G, marked the advent of commercial wireless communication. Unlike earlier closed telephone systems, 0G represented a significant advancement as it was accessible as a commercial service. These early wireless phones were typically installed in cars or trucks, paving the way for greater mobility and accessibility in telecommunications.
1G
This marks the advent of the first generation of cellular network, commercially deployed in 1979 by Nippon Telephone and Telegraph in Tokyo. This network utilized the cellular structure mentioned earlier and introduced the capability of automatic switching between different base stations. However, it relied on analog signals to transmit and receive information, making it susceptible to noise and distortion.2G
One major difference between 2G and 1G is that 2G transmits signals using digital signals, marking the first generation to do so. Additionally, some 2G systems began to support SMS(Short Message Service) and simple data transmission. However, 2G is now being phased out due to its comparatively low speed and transmission rate.3G
3G is characterized by its ability to support high-speed mobile data, typically in the range of a few hundred kilobits per second (kbps). 3G also aims to provide standardized Internet communication protocols, enabling users to browse the Internet and access various data from anywhere in the world. Moreover, 3G combines wireless communication with the Internet, creating a new system capable of handling images, music, video, and web browsing, which forms the foundation of the modern mobile network we are familiar with today. It uses a new technique called CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) to efficiently package data for transmission.4G
4G represents a significant advancement over 3G, offering speeds up to 10 times faster than its predecessor. It achieves this leap in performance by using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access(OFDMA) technology. OFDMA effectively turns high-speed signals into multiple parallel lower-speed signals, thereby enhancing the efficiency of frequency spectrum utilization and increasing data transmission rates. This technological innovation enables smoother and faster mobile internet experiences, catering to the growing demand for high-speed data services.5G
Finally, we arrive at 5G, the newest generation of cellular technology.In recent years, the internet and our daily lives have become more entangled than ever before. Devices such as autonomous vehicles and various IOT appliances hold the promise of changing our lives for the better. However, as the quantity of such devices increases, the latency and speed limitations of 4G are proving to be insufficient. Therefore, the primary focus of 5G is to provide even faster and lower latency mobile data services. One of the main differences between 5G and 4G is the C-RAN architecture, which stands for Centralized RAN. The concept behind C-RAN is to separate the BBU from the RRU in a base station, allowing the BBU to be shared among multiple RRUs. This is in contrast to the D-RAN (Distributed RAN) used in previous generations, where the RRU and BBU are bundled together at the cell site.
