5G for the Connected World

1Drivers and Motivation for 5G

Betsy Covell¹ and Rainer Liebhart²

¹Nokia, Naperville, USA

²Nokia, Munich, Germany

1.1 Drivers for 5G

Main drivers for the evolution of mobile networks in the past were mobile voice (2G/3G/Voice over Long Term Evolution [VoLTE]), messaging (Short Messaging Service [SMS], WhatsApp) and Internet access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access [WCDMA], High Speed Packet Access [HSPA], Long Term Evolution [LTE]) whenever and wherever needed. Focus was on end consumers equipped with traditional handsets or smartphones.

Consumer demand continues to be insatiable with an ever growing appetite for the bandwidth that is needed for 4K and 8K video streaming, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), among other use cases. On the same token, operators want the network to be “better, faster and cheaper” without compromising any of these three elements.

The biggest difference between 5G and previous “Gs” is the diversity of applications that 5G networks need to support. Objects ranging from cars and factory machines, appliances to watches and apparel, will learn to organize themselves to fulfill our needs by automatically adapting to our behavior, environment or business processes. New use cases will arise, many not yet conceived, creating novel business models. 5G connectivity will impact the following areas:

• Real world mobility. The way we travel and experience our environment;
• Virtual mobility. The way we can control remote environments;
• High performance ...