5G NR stands for “Fifth Generation New Radio” or it is the new Radio Access technology in 5G standard. It is set by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP) telecommunication standard group. 5G NR describes how 5G NR edge devices like smartphones, routers and gateways and 5G NR network infrastructure like base stations, smart cells, and other radio access network equipment can transfer data wirelessly. That means how 5G devices and 5G NR network infrastructure use radio waves in their communication.
5G NR plays a very important part in 5G, because it offers various radio access technology than previous radio access standards. It defines how 5G solutions will use radio waves to transmit data wirelessly with faster speed and low latency.
5G includes 5GCN which means “5G Core Network” used to specify the architecture of a network which collects, processes, and routes data from edge devices and then transfers this data to the cloud or other edge devices but 5GCN is not a radio access technology, it is a core network technology.
If you want to increase the 5G network’s operational capacity, efficiency and performance then you can use 5GCN.
What does NR means in 5G NR
NR stands for new radio interface and radio access technology for cellular networks .
It is a kind of physical connection method used for radio based communication. There are some other kinds of radio access technologies like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 4G LTE. Radio waves are used by all cell phones to provide communication by converting your voice into digital signals. Radio waves are also used for sending and receiving internet data.
There are two frequency ranges used by 5G NR:
- Frequency range1(FR1): it includes frequency bands of 6Ghz and below.
- Frequency range2(FR2): it includes frequency bands in millimeter wavelength i.e. 20-60Ghz. This frequency range is mainly helpful to enable 5G Ultra Wideband (UWB).
History of 5G NR
5G NR is a new radio access technology (RAT) which is developed by 3GPP for the 5th generation mobile communication. The technical details behind the 5G NR provided by 3GPP.
In 2015 for the first time the study of 5G NR was provided by the 3GPP, and by the end of 2017 the first specification about 5G NR was made. After that the standardization process was ongoing to implement infrastructures combined with the draft standard, and in 2018 there was a first large scale commercial launch of 5G NR. Since 2019 5G NR enabled handsets are developed by handset manufacturers.
How does 5G NR Work
As 5G NR defines how edge devices and network infrastructure communicate to each other by using electromagnetic radio waves. It occupies a different part of the wireless spectrum because it depends on the frequency of electromagnetic waves i.e. how long the wire is?
Some waves used by 5G NR have frequency ranges between 400MHz and 6GHz. These waves occupy what is known as sub-6 spectrum, because they all have frequencies under 6GHz. Other radio access technology also used this sub-6 spectrum like LTE.
There are many advancements in 5G NR than 4G LTE :
- 5G NR network can use the same band of spectrum as used by LTE and other technologies like LTE-M , NB-IoT just because of DSS. This DSS technology allows the 5G NR network to be continued without shutting down LTE or other networks that support existing LTE smartphones or any other IoT devices.
- 5G NR does not just use electromagnetic waves in the sub-6 spectrum to transfer data. It also specifies how edge devices and network infrastructures can use radio waves in bands between 24GHz and 52GHz to transfer data.
- In sub-6 spectrum there is a lack of spectrum capacity because at that time there is a limited number of bands which can be used for communication between two devices, and many bands are small . and due to lack of available capacity of network and narrow band spectrum bands led to network congestion. But 5G NR uses millimeter wave bands which expand the amount of spectrum available for wireless data communication.
- Because of this additional wireless capacity provided by mmWave also helps in reducing latency (it is the time between when the device sends the data signal and when it receives the response). The sub-6 spectrum takes 10 milliseconds while 5G NR takes only 3-4 milliseconds.
- 5G NR initiates new industrial automation, immersive gaming as well as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality(AR) and Extended Reality(ER) these all need very low latency.
- 5G NR also uses some technologies like beamforming and massive Multiple Input Multiple Output(MIMO).
Benefits of 5G NR
There are various benefits of 5G NR over any network as follows:
- 5G NR offers larger wireless area capacity.
- 5G NR has an ultra lean design which improves network energy efficiency, and which reduces network operational expenses. Ultra lean design can reduce interference in high traffic load conditions.
- It provides improved technology for maintaining the quality of a connection over a broad global area.
- 5G NR will increase the speed and data rates, which means more bits are processed over a unit of time.
- 5G NR will improve the efficiency in data sharing.
- 5G NR can decrease the time period between updates, on average service creation time cycle.
- 5G NR will increase energy savings per device.
- It can improve links connecting a larger number of users.
Disadvantages of 5G NR
There are some drawbacks of using 5G NR which are as follows:
1. Cyber Security
Security is the main concern of every network but 5G NR has drawbacks related to cyber security because of expansion in the bandwidth which enables unauthorized persons or criminals to steal the data from the database very easily. 5G NR uses software which leads to vulnerable attacks.
2. Lack of Encryption
5G NR technology lacks encryption and hackers can easily attack the database of companies to a large extent. Because of more bandwidth it will strain the current security monitoring and there is a need for security measures which can prevent cyber threats.
3. Weakened Device Batteries
For using 5G NR technology there should be huge battery life. And 5G connection results in a huge battery drain which reduces the lifespan of the battery to a large extent. Hence manufacturers need to make a new battery technology which can be used to protect the battery from damages and other problems.
4. Decreased Broadcast Distance
5G NR has high speed but then also it won’t travel as far when compared to 4G. Sometimes tall buildings and trees may block the frequency range of the 5G NR network which can create several problems. That’s why 5G NR needs more towers for coverage and that is time consuming and very expensive.