Fundamental ways of building an effective 5G Network Planning

The GSM Association reveals that the 5G network will have more than 1.7 billion subscribers all around the world by 2025. The 5G network speed is 100 times faster than the 4G network. There is a need for effective planning for the 5G network as it reduces the time-to-market and maximizes the revenue potential with robust roll-out plans. Using 5G network planning, we can easily control more devices, and allow data transfers at the benchmark speeds in real-time applications. However, 5G has the potential to offer much more than fast connectivity. 5G Network-enabled IoT will leave a long-lasting expression in the fields of automation, smart systems, machine intelligence, and more.

Why is 5G Network Planning Needed?

5G Technology needs to have a new core network that can even support the existing 3G and 4G Technologies. As per 3GPP, the uses of 5G Technology can be categorized into three major types of services. These services demand a higher level of network planning in order to function seamlessly.

  • Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB): 5G will make smartphones more efficient. It will also help provide better immersive experiences, including VR and AR, with fast and uniform data rates, lower latency, and lesser cost per bit. This calls for an improved mobile broadband.
  • Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) : With a 5G network planning, new services that are greatly dependent on high reliability and low latency, such as remote controls of critical infrastructure vehicles and medical procedures, will also be possible.
  • Massive machine type communications (mMTC): 5G can efficiently handle several embedded sensors. It can scale down data rates, power, and mobility to provide a better low-cost solution to various products.

Fundamentals for Effective 5G Network Planning

The introduction of 5G will also create better opportunities for communication service providers to enhance their service revenue and achieve their targets with reduced cost. With advanced functionality such as massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), network slicing, edge computing, and network function virtualization, 5G can facilitate services such as Smart Home, Drone operations, and remote healthcare services. However, there will be some challenges. The diverse set of network requirements for every service along with maintaining the coexistence between 4G and 5G cells will also lead to other difficulties. To overcome these, there are a set of efficient fundamentals involved in 5G network planning.

1. Service-oriented Approach

5G network planning should be initiated with the assessment of services the communication service provider is planning to provide to its user. In this assessment identifying the location of the target customer base, determination of consumption patterns, and the network bandwidth required for every individual service should be taken into account. By using this assessment network, planning teams can determine the benchmark of performance for the services. This can later be used for maintaining corresponding network efficiency. With this information, the network planning team can then build a network plan that will fulfill the requirements of the communication service provider effectively.

2. Optimization of 4G Networks

Along with the initiation of 5G non-standalone architecture, the performance of the current 4G network will also be very important for enhancing the performance of 5G networks. This is because 4G networks will also supplement the coverage needs. Hence it is very important to resolve any coverage and network performance issues that are still present in the 4G network. This might be detrimental to the quality indicators of 5G cells as well. This can be achieved by building multiple anchor point frequencies in the frequency band on which the 4G network works, and 5G users will remain connected to these frequencies as well.

3. Investments 

Investments in relevant sectors that will further increase the 5G network and its planning will also be very pivotal to the development of effective 5G network planning. Full stop investments made in big data and artificial intelligence companies along with the relevant infrastructure that can support the workload for these technologies are a must. For instance, using machine learning can help in the analysis of current and future requirements of AR and VR-based services. These technologies will also be critical for 5G network coverage and its capacity.

Conclusion 

Communication service providers should also invest in skills that are in sync with the technologies and practices that are discussed. The role of the communication service provider will be very crucial for the development of the 5G network and its future. The building up of skills regarding this sector will depend on the level of technical maturity before deploying 5G networks and implementing modern technologies, including artificial intelligence, artificial reality, and virtual reality.

The Need for Intelligent Capacity Management Planning for 5G

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