Antennas for 5G network at home and office
January 18, 2022
01/18/2022
January 18, 2022
VISHWAKARMA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Antennas for 5G network at home and office
Group Members:
(48)sneha powar, (54) Prathamesh Ingale , (62) Rohan Mahajan, (63) Tejas mahajan
Guide – PROF. SUHAS BHISE
Is 5G in My Area?
In June 2019, Ericsson released research suggesting that 45% of the population will be covered by 4G, with 1.9 billion subscribers, by 2024.
Such an adoption rate would make 5G the most rapidly adopted cell network standard yet.
Currently, in the United States, all the major cell phone carriers – including AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile – support 5G, to varying degrees, in various cities. It is not yet everywhere, but it is being rolled out quickly.
You can use the Ookla 5G MAP tool to find out if your city has 5G network available. According to Ookala, as of March 11, 2020, there have been 7,220 5G deployments globally by 111 network providers.
How the New 5G Features Create New Antenna Design
Challenges
To plan and design antennas for the functionality
of 5G, it's important to understand the challenges and how to address
them. Here we review those considerations.
Actively Tunable Antenna System
Due to stringent size constraints, modern wireless
devices typically use active antenna tuners as an effective mean to shrink
antenna size. It can tune antenna smartly based on the changing operating
environment, frequency band, and bandwidth coverage. With a potentially higher
order of CA in 5G and additional cellular bands, the antenna tuning system must
be able to support more tuner state as well as wider frequency bandwidth per
tuner state.
New Frequency Bands
Based on 3GPP Release 15, two basic frequency
ranges (FR1 and FR2) are to be used for 5G:
FR1: 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz; FR2: 24.25 to 52.6 GHz
In FR1, 5G adopts 3.3 ~ 3.8, 3.8 ~ 4.2, and 4.4
~ 4.9 GHz bands on top of the existing sub-3GHz bands in 4G LTE. This posts new
requirements for cellular antennas to provide additional frequency coverages in
the sub-6GHz frequency range.
What type of antenna is used for 5G?
1)Challenging Antenna System Design Due
to Co-existence
MIMO functionality requires
multiple antennas to co-exist on a device and operate on the same frequency
bands. The technology itself has already been used in the 4G LTE network in the
form of SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO (Single-user MIMO and Multiple-user MIMO).
In 5G, Massive-MIMO (mMIMO) will be a necessary
building block to push the cell capacity and UE downloading data rate to the
next level. While most of the mMIMO antenna specifications and technology
reviews nowadays focus on the base station side, where 32 or more logical
antenna ports are needed, it is expected that the number of antennas on the UE
is also going to increase.
Also, because of the enabling of Multiple Access
technology in 5G, Bluetooth/WLAN, cellular, etc. are more often to transmit on
the UE simultaneously, antenna coexistence issue can only be more complicated
to solve. If not properly addressed, antenna coexistence issues can cause
either communication range reduction, an unexpected blind spot, or even
sporadic connectivity quality drop.
Figure 1 gives an example of antenna efficiency
loss due to coexistence. Antennas must be strategically arranged in a 5G UE to
achieve the full potency of MIMO.
2)
What are 5G external antennas for routers?
5G external antennas for
routers are small antennas that plug directly into your 5G router. As the name suggests, these tend to be mounted to the outside
of your property - preferably nice and high up - where they will serve to boost
the mobile signal to your home.
3) Why are 5G external
antennas needed?
Opting for a high speed mobile network connection for your home broadband
can be a viable alternative to fixed broadband. And with 5G home broadband now
a possibility, you don’t even need to make any compromises when it comes to
speed or latency.
There are potential
pitfalls with a mobile broadband solution, however. Your property might not get
a strong signal if it’s too far from a mast, while interference from other
signals and physical obstructions like buildings (a particular issue with 5G)
can also hamper your home broadband performance.
5G networks are designed
to overcome these limitations by employing lots of small signal relays rather
than a single large emitter. But signal disruptions will still occur -
especially this early on in the 5G revolution where the infrastructure is still
being built out.
In these cases where
you’re struggling with a poor connection for your 5G home broadband package, an
external antenna can be the best solution.
4) Directional or omni-directional antenna?
There are two basic
types of external antenna: directional and omni-directional. The difference is
pretty self-explanatory - a directional antenna will receive signals strongly
(also known as higher gain) in a single direction (or in a narrow cone), while
an omni-directional antenna will receive signals moderately well from many or
all directions. As a general rule, the higher the gain, the more directional an
antenna is.
As you might assume,
omni-directional is the safest bet for most people, as you’ll be more likely to
get a signal, and won’t be overly reliant on a single source. However, those in
rural locations who aren’t necessarily blessed with an abundance of strong
signal sources might be better served going directional.
5)
Router to antenna connection
If you’ve confirmed that
you need a 5G external antenna, check with the manufacturer of your 5G router
that the model actually supports such an extension. Most do, but not all.
Suitable routers will
typically utilise 2×2 MIMO, which will mean that they feature two external
antenna ports. You can either buy two separate antennas or a dual antenna
system that will plug into both of these.
Also make sure that the
antenna uses the same connection type (typically TS–9 or SMA). You can buy a
simple and cheap set of adaptors to bridge the gap if you do find yourself with
a mismatch, however.
6) DIY antenna tips
Before you commit to the
idea of buying a 5G external antenna, it’s worth running a couple of practical
tests. First, eliminate the possibility that it’s the connection between your
device(s) and your 5G router that’s actually at fault.
Do this by placing the
device and the router close to each other. If this fixes your connection problem,
then you know you need to boost your Wi-Fi signal rather than your 5G signal,
and that an external antenna is not the answer.
Also, take a look at the
positioning of your 5G router. Is it possible to move this at all, preferably
higher and closer to a window? If so, you might find that this will positively
impact the strength of your 5G signal without the need to invest in an external
antenna.
7) 5G external
antenna ratings
As long as you follow
the above guidelines, you shouldn’t go wrong picking out a 5G external antenna.
If we were to offer a single safe and easy pick, then the Huawei
5G AF9E Antenna is a 5G antenna that will work well for the vast majority
of UK 5G broadband users.
That’s because it has
been designed to operate closely with the Huawei 5G CPE Pro. The name
probably won’t be familiar to you, but the Three 5G Hub and Vodafone GigaCube are both rebranded
versions of the Huawei 5G CPE Pro.
8)5G standardization process
5G is an umbrella term covering
various networks, technologies, and applications. It is a standardization for
mobile communication. The name 5G was coined from the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) as a “fifth generation mobile
communications system.” To this end, the standardization organization 3rd
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is advancing its 5G implementation with
the International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT-2020) initiative. In parallel,
other standardization bodies, including the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the ITU, are working on a 5G specification. In
late 2019 the standardization process was finalized, and we now see more and
more applications being commercialized.
9)Different applications require different antennas
There are many applications that are addressed with the new communication standard and there are multiple frequency ranges for 5G mobile communication to be considered. In general, 5G mobile networks can operate in various frequencies and hence requiring different antennas for different frequency bands.
ADVANTAGES OF 5G
1. 1) Data BW of 1 Gbps
or higher
2. 2) Globally accessible
3. 3) Dynamic information
access• Available at low cost
4. 4) Support interactive
multimedia, voice, streaming
5. 5) video, Internet,
and other broadband services ,more effective and more attractive ,Bi
directional accurate traffic statistics.
DISADVANTAGES OF 5G
1. OBSTRUCTIONS CAN IMPACT CONNECTIVITY
The range of 5G connectivity is not great as the frequency waves are only able to travel a short distance. Added to this setback is the fact that 5G frequency is interrupted by physical obstructions such as trees, towers, walls and buildings. The obtrusions will either block, disrupt or absorb the high-frequency signals. To counter this setback, the telecom industry is extending existing cell towers to increase the broadcast distance.
2. INITIAL COSTS FOR ROLLOUT ARE HIGH
The costs related to the development of 5G infrastructure or adaptations to existing cellular infrastructure will be high. This amount will be further compounded by the ongoing maintenance costs needed to ensure the high-speed connectivity, and it’s likely the customers will bare the brunt of these big price tags. Cellular operators are looking to minimise these costs by exploring alternative options in the form of network sharing.
3. LIMITATIONS OF RURAL ACCESS
While 5G might bring about real connectivity for the predominantly urban areas, those living in the rural settings will not necessarily benefit from the connection. As it stands, many remote areas countrywide are not able to access any form of cellular connectivity. The 5G carriers are going to target big cities with larger populations, eventually working their way into the outer areas, but it’s not likely this will be happening any time soon. As a result, only some of the population will benefit from 5G communication.
4. BATTERY DRAIN ON DEVICES
When it comes to cellular devices connected to 5G, it seems the batteries are not able to operate for a significant period of time. The battery technology needs to advance to allow for this enhanced connectivity, where a single charge will power a cellphone for a full day. Alongside depleted batteries, users are reporting that cellphones are getting increasingly hot when operating on 5G.
5. UPLOAD SPEEDS DON’T MATCH DOWNLOAD SPEEDS
The download speeds of 5G technology are incredibly high, in some cases up to 1.9Gbps. However, the upload speeds are rarely more than 100Mbps, which is not quite as incredible as initially touted. In relation to existing mobile connectivity, however, the upload speeds are higher than being seen with 4G LTE.
Great work 👍
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