Fundamentals of 5G Mobile Networks

12Conclusion and Future Outlook

Jonathan Rodriguez

Instituto de Telecomunicações, Aveiro, Portugal

The foreseen increase in the number of connected mobile devices, coupled with the ever more stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements from emerging broadband services, means that employing today’s technologies and strategies for network expansion will fail to deliver competitive tariffs as the transmission cost per bit will rocket. Unless new disruptive techniques are exploited, just opting to ‘buy more spectrum or infrastructure’ to accommodate extra users will no longer solve the issue of operators meeting customer demand effectively in an era when spectral resources are at a premium. As the 4G chapter closes, a new era beckons which requires networking technology to evolve and to be ready for next-generation services and demand. As a new chapter unfolds, we not only need to evolve the legacy system to be more competitive, but we also require new disruptive ideas to secure the 5G market and foster growth for the future. Indeed, we need to adopt a proactive stance in order to be ready for the 5G story. In this concluding chapter, we will harness some of the technology paradigms discussed in the previous chapters to build a picture of the current state of 5G, emphasising some of the challenges that still lie ahead, particularly on green networking and inter-layer design. As a final discussion on the 5G story, the editor shares his vision of the future for 5G mobile. In order ...