5G Bands

As radio technology progresses, it can handle higher frequencies, and it occupies greater bandwidth. 1G systems used 30 kHz radio carriers, 2G in GSM uses 200 kHz carriers, 3G in UMTS uses 5 MHz carriers, and 4G in LTE uses carriers of up to 100 MHz through carrier aggregation.

Although 5G research and development is in its infancy, to achieve the 10 Gbps or higher throughput rates envisioned for 5G will require radio carriers of at least 1 GHz, bandwidths available only at frequencies above 5 GHz. Researchers globally are studying high-frequency spectrum options. For example, the 5G organization Mobile and wireless communications Enablers for the Twenty-twenty Information Society (METIS) has published a report on spectrum needs that evaluates the following frequency bands:

q  380 to 5925 MHz (current systems)

q 5.925 MHz to 40.5 GHz

q  40.5 GHz to 95 GHz

q  95 GHz to 275 GHz (representing the upper limits of mmWave bands)

Higher frequencies are well suited for ultra-dense small-cell deployments, but longer propagation is also possible using antenna arrays and beamforming. For example, Samsung has demonstrated 2 km line-of-sight transmission at 28 GHz.