The main purpose of Cybersecurity Awareness training course is to minimize huma....
Wireless Networks and Further Development Towards 5G
Mobile communications systems have revolutionized the way people communicate, joining together communications and mobility. The last few years have witnessed a phenomenal growth in the wireless industry, both in terms of mobile technology and its subscribers. Nowadays there are more than 7 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, from less than 1 billion in 2000, as reported from ITU (International Telecommunication Union). Globally, 3.2 billion people are using the Internet of which 2 billion are from developing countries (Figure 1). Information and Communications Technology (ICT) will play even more significant role in the post 2016 development agenda, and in achieving future development goals toward 5G (fifth generation).
Figure 1.The growth of ICT for 15 year
It is predicted that in the future, wireless communication will be extended to applications beyond human-to- human communication, for example, machine-to-machine communication, smart cars, Internet of Things etc. Observing the increasing demands of society by 2020 and beyond, greater challenges are expected on the next generation (5G) of the mobile communication system from the aspects of spectrum, techniques, operation and security/privacy. These and many other requirements have already become a target for ICT and researches that have started to develop ideas for 5G.
The 5G generation has evolved through the first generation (1G) to the fourth generation (4G). The first generation refers to communications based on analog technology and it was first introduced for the mobile cellular technology.
Starting with the second generation (2G or GSM), digital signals are used for voice transmission, enabling an initial throughput in the range of 9.6 kbps to 19.2 kbps. Next to 2G, the 2.5G (GPRS) system uses packet switched and circuit switched domain and provides data rate up to 144 kbps. It uses digital modulation and is essentially a circuit-switched network.
3G technologies have enabled faster data transmission speeds, greater network capacity and more advanced network services including wide-area voice telephony, video calls, and broadband wirelessdata, all in a mobile environment. 4G offers a downloading speed of 100 Mbps. LTE (Long Term Evolution) is considered a 4G technology. The 4G is developed to accommodate the Quality-of-Service(QoS) and rate requirements set by applications like wireless broadband access, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), video chat, mobile TV, HDTV content, but 4G firstly should be able to provide services like voice and data.
The Requirements and Capabilities of 5G
In order to enable connectivity for a wide range of applications with different characteristics and requirements, the capabilities of the 5G wireless access must extend far beyond those of previous generations of current mobile communications. The main requirements of 5G include very high data rates, very low latency, and ultra-high reliability. 5G will be realized by further development of LTE in combination with new radio access technologies. The key technology components of the 5G include extension to higher frequency bands, advanced multi-antenna transmission, user/control separation, flexible spectrum usage, device to device communication, and backhaul/access integration.
Massive system capacity - In order to support a greater number of devices compared with the current networks, 5G should be able to distribute data at a much lower price and lower energy cost compared to the current level. Also, 5G must include the deployment of billions of wirelessly connected sensors (Internet of Things, IoT).
Very high data rates everywhere - 5G should provide data rates over 100 Mbps in urban and suburban environments. This data rate should be achieved everywhere, including sparsely populated rural areas, as in developed countries and developing ones. In specific cases, 5G should be able to provide a high level of data rates up to 10 Gbps in indoor and outdoor environments.
Very low latency - 5G intentions to even higher levels of data rates, have raised the need for lower time latency. This is required especially for applications such as traffic safety, in what is known as critical infrastructure and in industrial processes where requires the latency to be less than 1ms.
Ultra-high reliability and availability - Besides small latency, 5G must also provide connectivity with ultra-high reliability and high availability services such as control of critical infrastructure and traffic safety.
Very low device cost and energy consumption - 5G must provide mobile devices at very low cost and low energy consumption. In this way, it will enable the functioning of billions of sensors and similar IoT devices wirelessly connected, and the battery life will be several years without recharging. But also in voice communications as in 5G, voice communication will be implemented using VoIP technology.
Spectrum for 5G - To achieve high capacity of traffic, 5G must extended the range of frequencies used for mobile communication that will include new spectrum below 6 GHz, and the spectrum in the higher frequency bands in a wide range of frequencies up to 100 GHz. Thus, the relevant spectrum for wireless access on 5G will be extended to a range of below 1 GHz to 100 GHz.
The 5G technology component - With further extending operation to higher frequencies, there are some key technology components required for evolution to 5G wireless access.
Multi antenna transmission - A multiantenna transmission will play an even more important role in the era of 5G during the operation at higher frequencies at transmitting and receiving site, also it will use the multiple antenna for beamforming.
Separation of operation user and control - Another important principle in the design of wireless access in the future is the separation of the user data from the control system functionality. The separation of user data and control functionality of the system will be able to extend in multiple frequency bands. This seperation will be important in case of networks deployment with high density, relying on the principle of beam-forming for data distribution.
Flexible spectrum usage - 5G era will also enable joint use part of the spectrum between different operators and will operate in unlicensed spectrum and this is mainly applied in frequency bands above 10 GHz.
Flexible use of the duplex scheme - For the lowest frequency bands, it will use theFrequency Division Duplex (FDD) duplex scheme, and for higher frequency bands above 10 GHz will be used Time Division Duplex (TDD) duplex schemes.
Direct device to device communication(D2D) - D2D communication in 5G will be an integral part of the system for wireless access. The possibility for D2D communication will enlarge the skills and will increase the effectiveness of wireless access networks, avoiding uncontrolled interference in other lines, which is realized by under network control.
Integration between access and microwave transmissionlines - In the 5G era, the wireless access lines and microwave links will not be seen as two separate entities with separate technical solutions, as are in current networks. Rather, microwave and access lines should be viewed as an integrated solution of wireless access, able to use the same basic technology and will operate using a common spectral resource.
5G Security
The 5G systems are the next step in the mobile communication evolution. The 5G will have a crucial role in realizing the vision of the Networked Society, 5G networks need to provide capabilities not only for the voice and data communication as we know it today, but alsofor the new applications that will fulfil all demands of the new industries, and society in general. Researches and standardization have started in many technology areas of fundamental importance for 5G (such as cloud and the Internet of Things). Besides the numerous efforts and researches on the definition of 5G mobile networks, there is much more to do in order to reach standardization in the 3GPP.
A multi-stakeholder approach involving operators, vendors, regulators, policy-makers and representatives of 5G users (for example, industry segments) is fundamental to the security baseline of trustworthy, cost-efficient and manageable 5G networks. ETSI (GPP) and the IETF will continue to be two important standardization bodies for the 5G security, and defining a new trust model will be one of their first priorities. Depending on the role that 5G aspires to play in new usages – for example, for enterprises, public safety and industrial automation, standards defined (or to be defined) by bodies such as the ISO (International Organization for standardization), the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) and the CSA (Cloud Security Alliance) will also have an impact on the technology.
After implementation of the security solutions is considered that the 5G networks will be highly secure and a convenient way to access services.
Here at PECB, we are highly focused on the new Information Technology development and we strive continuously to provide our clients the best information technology services. PECB is a certification body for persons, management systems, and products for a wide range of international standards. As a global provider of training, examination, audit, and certification services, PECB offers its expertise on multiple fields, including ISO 20000, ISO 22301, ISO 28000, etc.
About the authors:
Arthur Donkers is an independent information security expert who specializes in mobile security, risk management and various ISO standards. Arthur is a PECB Certified Trainer teaching various courses related to Security and IT Service Management.
Vlerar Shala is an Account Manager for Information Technology and Service Management at PECB. He is in charge of conducting market research while developing and providing information related to the Information Technology and Service Management systems at PECB. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact: marketing.itsm@pecb.com.
Infographic
