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Buckle Up, 5G is Almost Here!
By Nick Stephen
April 23, 2019
What comes to your mind when you hear “5G?” Well, before I
got myself into the electronics industry, I would’ve guessed 5
grams. In fact, when I asked a few of my friends who are not in
the industry, each replied with equally bad guesses, like 5 grand,
5 gigahertz, and more. The term “5G” actually stands for 5th
generation! Before we dive into 5G, it would be benecial to talk
about what came before.
Cellular mobile communications began in the 1980s. When the
technology emerged, the rst-generation network carried voice
only. In the 1990s, we started text messaging between devices;
this was called 2nd generation. In early 2000s, 3G technology
was born. With 3G came the ability to make calls, send texts,
and surf the web from a “smart” wireless device. We currently
have 4G, which includes all the functions of 3G, plus the ability
to easily download or upload video and audio les.
It’s obvious that the mobile and wireless technologies have
come a long way, but what’s coming up next? What can we
expect from 5G? How much of an impact will 5G have on the
future? How does KEMET play a role in 5G? If you’re asking
yourself all these questions, then you are in luck! I have all those
answers, so keep on reading.
was stuck staring out the window and contemplating life for
two hours. I wouldn’t say it was a complete waste of two hours
though. I had plenty of time to think about why my movie was
taking so long to download.
The download speed of 4G networks range from 10-100mbps,
and the frequencies below 6gHz and the 4G towers are non-di-
rectional. This means that the 4G towers are ring data in all
directions. As you can imagine, this is a wasting a lot of power
and energy by beaming radio waves to locations that are not
requesting internet access. With all these factors combined, it’s
safe to say I would need at least 10-20 minutes to download my
full length, high denition movie.
5G Technology
I’M GRATEFUL FOR 4G… BUT…
1
A couple of weeks ago, I was catching a last-minute ight and I
wanted to download a movie to watch. Of course, I had procras-
tinated and waited until I was on the plane to start my download.
Unsurprisingly, the download didn’t nish before takeo󰀨, so I
OUT WITH THE OLD…
IN WITH THE NEW
Can you imagine clicking the download button and seeing
your movie become ready to view within seconds? Probably
not. That’s because it’s not possible with the 4G networks we
have. On 5G, the time it takes for two devices to communicate
with one another is expected to be 50 times faster than on 4G.
Download time for a high denition, full length movie will be
seconds, not minutes.
I know it sounds too good to be true, but this is possible because
5G is expected to support up to 1 million connected devices per
0.38 square miles. This is compared to around 2,000 connected
devices per 0.38 square miles with 4G. The 5G networks will