Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1132978
July/August/September 2019 I 51 • Support for up to 100 times as many connected devices • The perception of 100 percent coverage • 90 percent reduction in network energy usage • Up to 10-year battery life for low-power, machine-type devices Use cases, other than security and safety, include: • Industrial automation (smart factories) using sensors, inventory controls, and robots • Urban infrastructure monitoring and management (smart cities) • Utility monitoring, metering, and control (smart grid) • Autonomous vehicles including cars, trucks, construction equipment, mining equipment, buses, and trains • Agricultural automation including self-driving tractors and soil sensors that manage irrigation and alert the farmer when to harvest • Autonomous drones for video inspections, surveillance, and product delivery • Remote patient monitoring (telemedicine) "5G is a collection of technologies, not a single technology solution," notes Eric Toenjes, national market manager for Mobility at Graybar, which specializes in supply chain management services and distribu- tion. "Connecting more things will give first responders more situa- tional awareness," Toenjes adds. "An example of this could be fire- fighters rushing into a burning building using smart displays built into face shields that allow them to see a rendering of the building in 3D even through smoke." EPC Evolved Packet Core EPC Evolved Packet Core Distributed RAN Centralized RAN Cloud RAN Backhaul (microwave, copper, or fiber) RRH #1 RRH #2 RRH #3 Fronthaul (typically fiber) Fronthaul (typically fiber) RRH #1 RRH #2 RRH #3 EPC Evolved Packet Core RRH #1 RRH #2 RRH #3 Virtualized BBUs BBU BBU BBU BBU BBU BBU antenna radio antenna radio antenna radio FIGURE 3: Integral to 5G deployments is the centralized radio access network (RAN), referred to as centralized RAN or C-RAN architecture that separates the baseband processing units from the remote radio heads, resulting in more optical fiber needing deployed as part of the fronthaul network. Centralized RAN is necessary to reach Cloud RAN, the ultimate destination. 1 Although high-speed applications may garner a lot of the 5G attention, low-energy, long-battery life appli- cations will be adopted as more IoT applications come to market. "Enterprises that want to prepare for 5G today should deploy a lot of fiber [Figure 3] and recognize that the building will need more distributed power at the edge of the network," Toenjes claims. "One strategy is to use the lighting grid as a power structure for IoT because it is pervasive throughout most buildings." Going forward, the rollout of 5G cellular networks and Citizen's Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum at 3.5 GHz will further enhance public safety and security communications.