Ericsson Technology Review, Issue 1/2018

We are publishing this magazine shortly after the first release of 5G from 3GPP, which is significant because the first release of a completely new standard only happens every 10 years. Fittingly, many of the articles in this issue relate to what we think is most important in 5G and how to address the new opportunities that 5G entails.

Defining New Radio (NR) was a key focus in the first release of 5G. While the development of the radio for a new generation has traditionally focused on the introduction of a new modulation and coding scheme, the main focus this time has been on flexibility to support a large range of devices and services with vastly different characteristics, different types of deployments and frequency allocations that range from below 1 GHz well up into the mmWave bands. To support the expected growth in data volumes, innovative technologies in the area of massive antenna systems, beamforming and energy efficiency have been introduced.

One of the key reasons for the flexibility provided in 5G is the desire to support industries to use connectivity, virtualization, machine intelligence and other technologies to change their processes and business models as part of the next industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. It is therefore a pleasure to be able to include an article in this issue that we have co-written with Comau and the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies on the topic of industrial automation.

In this issue we also cover the topic of 5G network programmability, which allows the network platform to support a wide range of applications, including the mission critical applications that are required to support industrial automation. We have also included an article on the subject of intelligent transport that describes a transport network solution that connects all the pieces of the RAN and the mobile core network, and where high levels of intelligence, flexibility and automation are used to provide optimal performance for a variety of different 5G scenarios.

We know that the protection of both networks and data is a key requirement for any enterprise or industry that uses LTE and 5G networks. We address this topic in an article that looks specifically at end-toend (E2E) security management for the Internet of Things (IoT).

We also know that video is sure to play in important role in many 5G applications. With the increased consumption of video over mobile networks, it is crucial to ensure a high-quality viewing experience. In light of this, Ericsson has been part of standardizing a model for measuring viewing quality, which we present here in an article about video QoE (Quality of Experience).

With the first 5G standard released and commercial deployments starting this year, we are entering a new era of mobile communications with the potential to profoundly change the way that many businesses and industries operate. This change may well be similar to the way that the introduction of mobile phones changed the way people interact both with each other and with different applications. We will continue to explore the possibilities of 5G in future ETR articles.

If you would like to see the contents of this magazine in digital form, you can find all of the articles, along with those published in previous issues, at: www.ericsson.com/ericssontechnology-review

Erik Ekudden
Senior Vice President, Group CTO and Head of Technology & Architecture