Enabling technologies and architectures for 5G wireless

Abstract

The proliferation of smart devices and the resulting exponential growth in data traffic has increased the need for higher capacity wireless networks. The cellular systems industry is envisioning an increase in network capacity by a factor of 1000 over the next decade to meet this traffic demand. In addition, with the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT), billions of devices will be connected and managed by wireless networks. Future networks must satisfy the above mentioned requirements with high energy efficiency and at low cost. Hence, the industry attention is now shifting towards the next set of innovations in architecture and technologies that will address capacity and service demands envisioned for 2020, which cannot be met only with the evolution of 4G systems. These innovations are expected to form the so called fifth generation wireless communications systems, or 5G. Candidate 5G solutions include i) higher densification of heterogeneous networks with massive deployment of small base stations supporting various Radio Access Technologies (RATs), ii) use of very large Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) arrays, iii) use of millimeter Wave spectrum where larger wider frequency bands are available, iv) direct device to device (D2D) communication, and v) simultaneous transmission and reception, among others. In this paper, we present the main 5G technologies. We also discuss the network and device evolution towards 5G.