Next generation
5G: waiting
in the wings
Pushing the boundaries of
While 5G is on everyone’s lips, its implications for mission-critical users are somewhat
unclear. Charlotte Hathway and Sam Fenwick try to cut through the hype
critical communications is
vital in ensuring that public
safety agencies are in the
best position to eff ectively
respond to an emergency. Th e current
narrowband technologies used by
emergency services are a trusted way
to transmit voice, but they cannot
meet rising demand for data and
video capabilities.
Numerous projects are under way
across the world to advance public
safety communications using mobile
broadband. Th ese services are being
built around the mission-critical
services being standardised in 3GPP
but, as 5G develops, there is an
expectation they will evolve to take
advantage of the capabilities promised
by the new standard. It is therefore
worth exploring these in detail.
5G is the next generation of mobile
broadband. Its key properties can be
broadly split into three areas that are
commonly illustrated by a triangle
(shown on page 19). Its three corners
are: enhanced mobile broadband
(eMBB), ultra-reliable low-latency
communication (URLLC), and
massive IoT. Th ese respectively enable
the faster transmission of data, fewer
interruptions, and connectivity between
a vast number of devices and sensors.
Of the three, only support for eMBB
has gone live with the launch of 5G; the
faster, more accurate transfer of larger
fi les and multiple eHealth applications
for smart ambulances”. In terms of
what 5G will eventually bring to critical
communications, Adrian Scrase, ETSI’s
CTO, sees this breaking down into
four areas: high-performance functions,
high-precision location services,
reliability, and capacity.
Th e fi rst of these will transform
“things like real-time facial recognition,
which require very low latency and
high performance”. He notes the
improvements public safety users can
expect from location services; these
might already be available, but they are
not at “the level of granularity we’d like
them to be”. 5G will let you “pinpoint
down to less than half a metre”.
On reliability, Scrase explains “this is
something 5G is designed to deliver”,
which in time will be complemented
by landmass being covered “to the
best extent possible” using “a truly
integrated satellite component”, as
opposed to satellite connectivity being
“an afterthought”. Th is will allow
remote areas to be reached aff ordably
and without excessive degradation of
performance. Low Earth orbit systems
will ensure “the delay is not too
dissimilar to a terrestrial network”.
Preparing for the future
It might be years before critical
communications transition fully from
other two corners of the triangle will
become available as part of the Phase 2
specifi cation (3GPP Release 16), which
is expected to go live in 2020. Th is
means a lot of the promised capabilities
are not yet available but, more
signifi cantly, public safety agencies are
unlikely to meaningfully implement
a new technology in its infancy. Ali
Helenius, head of strategy, marketing
and technology at Airbus SLC, explains
the simple reason why public safety
will not be “the fi rst adopters” for 5G.
“Public safety is not a spearhead for
new technologies. Th ey want at fi rst
to see that the technology is mature
enough, and that it is working reliably.”
Th is does not mean that 5G will
remain completely untapped in its
early years. Peter Clemons, founder of
Quixoticity, believes it won’t be long
before public safety users are able to
“take advantage of faster downloads”,
yet the full benefi ts of 5G are still
years away. When that happens, public
safety users will be able to make use of
“greater network visibility, enhanced,
diff erentiated quality of service and
network slicing”, but this is “unlikely to
be available before 2025, except in the
very few markets where public safety
has been prioritised by governments”.
Th e fi rst 5G release has already given
us an indication of the potential of
eMBB, but Clemons adds that its full
capability “should enable video calls,
November 2019 @CritCommsToday 17
Adobe Stock/franz1