What is 5G and how does it work? - Decoded

There has been a lot of buzz around 5G. Some say it will bring to life the sci-fi experience. Others speculate that it will enable the full potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, bringing to reality the concept of connected homes, office spaces, vehicles, and more. 

So, what is 5G really? And how does it work? Let’s understand:

To understand 5G better, it is important that we know about data transfer speeds, latency rate and throughput. These are the basic parameters that define 5G.

What is data transfer speed?

The data transfer speed is the maximum volume of information transferred between two systems every second. For instance, if a broadband connection has 100Mbps speed, it can handle up to 100 Megabits of data every second. Therefore, the higher the data transfer speed, the more the volume transferred every second.

What is latency rate?

It is the total time taken for a piece of information to move from one location to another. Voice lag during internet calling and skipped frame rates during online gaming sessions are two examples that explain the concept of latency rate. These happen due to high latency rate, which causes a delay in the exchange of information. This is calculated in milliseconds. A lower latency rate translates into a faster connection speed.

What is throughput?

Throughput is a network's capacity to handle active connections simultaneously. What we call a network congestion basically is the result of a network getting overloaded beyond its throughput limit.

Now, let’s understand what 5G is. It is a new mobile network standard that is touted to deliver data transfer speeds in the ballpark of one gigabit per second at a lower latency rate, and with higher throughput capacity, for more active simultaneous connections.

How does 5G work?

There are two types of globally accepted 5G networks – non-standalone and standalone. Non-standalone is a mix of 4G and 5G and works on the LTE network system. The true 5G experience, however, is offered by the standalone network, which is a complex deployment. It requires a complete overhaul of infrastructure to make it ready for software-based technology. An optic-fibre backhaul is needed. The sci-fi reality and connected world are some use-cases of this type of 5G. The non-standalone 5G network, on the other hand, is just an extension of 4G with a somewhat better network data transfer speed.