Samsung announces first 5G mobile wireless technology

[Jesse]

Samsung Electronics announced today that it has developed the world’s first 5G mobile wireless technology. The technology operates in the millimeter-wave Ka bands for cellular communication, and provides data transmission several hundred times faster than existing 4G networks, said Samsung.

5G, shorthand for “fifth generation,” is the next generation of the current 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, and is expected to be available by 2020. The practical implementation of 5G has hit roadblocks in the past because of the broad band of frequencies it requires to operate. The millimeter-wave bands do not travel well over extended distances because of what Samsung refers to as “unfavorable propagation characteristics.”

Samsung has combated this issue with its new adaptive array transceiver technology, which uses 64 antenna elements to overcome radio propagation loss. The transceiver broadcasts at 28GHz, much higher than the 2-8GHz range used by 4G, and is able to achieve speeds up to 1.056 Gbps to a distance of two kilometers.

The company hopes that this new technology will spur international innovation, research, and development. Once commercialized, Samsung says 5G technology will allow users to transmit massive data files “practically without limitation.”

There is a lot of competition in the race for viable 5G technology. China established a government program called “IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group” in February 2012, and the European Commission plans to invest 50 million Euros in 2013 into 5G services research and development. Additionally, NTT DoCoMo successfully conducted a 10 Gbps wireless test in February of this year, proving that mobile wireless speeds faster than LTE are indeed possible.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52573-samsung-announces-first-5g-mobile-wireless-technology.html

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Unless this is the only way to get 4K Ultra HD internet to our homes, then I don't see the point. Fiber Optics has been around since 1991 (I looked it up, but it's only in a couple cities just in the last year or two because there's no real need for it and people probably wouldn't want to pay for it anyway. LTE is more than fast enough for any tablet/phone use, and with 5G speed you'd need a data plan for like 100GB or more to take advantage of it.

Perhaps they'll use it in office buildings or in places where thousands of people might be using wireless together, like at a stadium.

 

[Darth Shiv]

LTE is more than fast enough for any tablet/phone use, and with 5G speed you'd need a data plan for like 100GB or more to take advantage of it.

I think that this tech will help push data provision to be larger on mobile plans. We currently are being extorted by mobile data providers. The first provider who can start giving decent data limits for LTE or better is going to be extremely popular!

 

[VitalyT]

Another short-sighted prognosis about 2020. The next year will be when 4K becomes cheap and ubiquitous. And shortly after that new tablet devices will appear, featuring 4K screens. Such devices will require 5G badly for live 4K video, as 4G LTE isn't suitable for it. In turn, this will propel 5G to the market quickly.

I bet we will see 5G not later than in 2016, possibly even earlier.

 

[Darth Shiv]

Another short-sighted prognosis about 2020. The next year will be when 4K becomes cheap and ubiquitous. And shortly after that new tablet devices will appear, featuring 4K screens. Such devices will require 5G badly for live 4K video, as 4G LTE isn't suitable for it. In turn, this will propel 5G to the market quickly.

I bet we will see 5G not later than in 2016, possibly even earlier.

Biggest problem we have locally is the speed of development of mobile hardware that supports the new mobile standards. Decent LTE support is still not available. The SGS4 is just released and doesn't support all possible LTE bands. The LTE network is still not even half complete in the country either (Australia). South Korea has a different model and that supports even less bands. It's just a mess.

2016 would be amazing but mobile phone hardware manufacturers and mobile network infrastructure designers really need a big kick up the backside and get moving to get to that sort of target.

 

[VitalyT]

Yes, the faster technology comes to market the more the underlying infrastructure lags behind. It is inevitable, but it won't stop the pioneering products making the headlines.

The way that 4K TV-s are selling today without much contents to watch is one good example of that. And there wasn't much of 4G LTE network in place when the first supporting products hit the market.

 

[Guest]

Is it really several hundred times faster than 4G? I don't think so.
Can 28 GHz transmit to 2 Km and still have signal strength enough for receiver?

 

[Darth Shiv]

Yes, the faster technology comes to market the more the underlying infrastructure lags behind. It is inevitable, but it won't stop the pioneering products making the headlines.

The way that 4K TV-s are selling today without much contents to watch is one good example of that. And there wasn't much of 4G LTE network in place when the first supporting products hit the market.

Being able to buy a 4K TV for $1300 will help change that...
http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/12/seiki-50-inch-4k-1300/