Thank you Jari Collin and Jarkko Pellikka, and the whole case study team for this great joint activity – what a nice way to close the year 2023 holding the actual book!

Many verticals benefit from the renewed architecture and features of 5G. As the specifications and deployments advance, our understanding of the new use cases through 5G concretizes. 5G brings along with opportunities to serve industries and enterprises more efficiently, and this book wraps up theoretical and practical aspects of the 5G innovative landscape.

One of the benefits of 5G is seen through the new models the 3GPP provides for advanced private network deployments, or non-public networks (NPN). I found it fascinating to study the landscape of the standalone NPN, public network integrated NPN, and outsourced NPN, and the respective opportunities balancing the important criteria for entities interested in different variants of NPN. As a part of this activity and one of our conference publications derived from our efforts, it was also nice to discuss the theme at the AICT 2023 on June, realizing the tecno-economic optimization of NPN deployments can trigger rather interesting further studies.

More information about the book can be found at Wiley here.

For the related conference papers, please visit:

• Proceedings of the 3rd IFSA Winter Conference on Automation, Robotics and Communications for Industry 4.0/5.0 (ARCI 2023); Industrial 5G to Boost Data-Driven IIoT Applications –  Opportunities and Barriers.
  
• Publication: On Techno-Economic Optimization of Non-Public Networks for Industrial 5G Applications. AICT 2023, The Nineteenth Advanced International Conference on Telecommunications.​

I want to thank Prof. J.P. Shim, Rob van den Dam, IBM, Sam Aiello, Verizon, Ramesh Sharda, Oklahoma State University, Aaron French, Kennesaw State University, and Association for Information Systems (AIS) for our panel discussion which resulted in the team’s publication "The transformative effect of 5G on business and society in the age of the fourth industrial revolution".
 
The topic involves many perspectives on 5G, such as spectrum allocations, network slicing, edge computing, cloud radio access network, multitude of industries and use cases, business models, 5G network analytics, deployment, and how to mitigate new risks.
 
The advances in 5G cellular technologies will be critical in driving economic development via numerous opportunities and applications. This transformational technology is integral to the process of realizing the full potential of the IoT, edge computing, artificial intelligence technologies, and analytics in the real world.

I hope you'll find this publication interesting. You can download the document at:
 
https://aisel.aisnet.org/cais/vol50/iss1/29/
 
#5G #society #development #business #publication #research

Even if the initial 5G networks have hardly started becoming commercially available gradually as of 2019 and their large-scale deployment is still years away, industry is already keen to envision the forthcoming generation. While there are no concrete 6G standards produced yet, their planning will benefit from realistic indications of the requirements and type of usage. The task is not straightforward as users, including a variety of verticals with their rather different communication environments, are sometimes not capable of expressing their future needs in technical terms nor industry might be able to prognosticate the demand that has not yet equivalence in preceding systems.

My recent publication “On 6G Visions and Requirements” (Journal of ICT Standardization) summarizes some of the visions of key standardization bodies and assesses indications of the industry for the potential requirements, service types, use cases, and architectural and functional models that can serve as a building block for the actual realization of the visions.

​I hope you’ll find this useful source to explore 6G further! 

View of On 6G Visions and Requirements (riverpublishers.com)

I want to express my warmest thanks to Prof. J. P. Shim for offering me with the possibility to join the panelist session at the AMCIS 2020, “5G Technologies: Insights, Opportunities & the Future”, 10th August 2020. Among the team of presenters with highly relevant industry updates, I had a chance to speak about 5G New Radio and core aspects.

The 5G radio access is the most advanced of the mobile communication systems up to date, and includes modern methods for operators to offer their subscribers with high data speed and low latency connectivity that outperforms any previous mobile generation with ease. In addition to the renewed actual access network architecture of 5G, there also is a set of completely new solutions developed on top of the 3GPP specifications, such as Open RAN concept by O-RAN Alliance. The 5G System also comprises of enhanced core network housing service-based architecture model. The network functions virtualization helps operators deploy advanced services such as Network Slicing and Telco Edge Cloud.

Please feel free to learn more on these AMCIS 2020 panel topics by downloading the conference paper and checking out the recorded session.

Jyrki Penttinen

I am pleased to inform that I just published The 5G User’s Guide: The Next Generation Revealed. This book contains the essential information we all need in order to start using 5G. It presents the principles of the 5G mobile devices and networks, and gives practical guidelines for selecting, setting up, and using mobile phones and services.

The fifth generation of mobile communications is about to take off and it will be the big thing throughout 2020s. While the new 5G networks are being deployed and evolve, this guide works as a survival kit for the ones wanting to know more about the practical aspects of the new era in non-technical terms.

The 5G User's Guide complements the series of 5G books I published earlier: 5G Simplified and 5G Explained.

I recently ordered a taxi and discussed 5G with my driver. At some point he commented he had heard that 5G might be dangerous for our health.

Understanding the radio waves have formed a foundation for our communication services for decades, including wireless telegraphy, radio and TV, walkie-talkies, radars, navigation and Wi-Fi, I started to wonder what type of information there actually flows on the topic in different forums. It is logical that we all are concerned about things impacting our wellbeing and health so it would be great to get more concrete clarity for the claims the taxi driver had heard from his clients on 5G.

So where to start with the exploration? To understand what type of discussions there are, social media should give some hints. Twitter search for “5G effects” brings up a list of variety of discussions. In fact, the daily amount of posts indicating doubts on 5G looks somewhat overwhelming. Some of the statements sound quite confusing and indicate also lack of basic understanding on the topic while some messages are either humoristic, furious or something in between. In essence, Twitter does not seem to provide easily answers to this topic.

The word “radiation” seems to cause the major confusion. Based on the common knowledge, the radiation can be either ionizing or non-ionizing. These are the differences:

1. Ionizing radiation, originated from such sources as X-ray equipment, has enough energy to detach electrons from atoms or molecules ionizing them. As a consequence, the ionizing radiation can harm human cells and cause health problems such as cancer. For that reason, it is a good idea to try to minimize exposure to e.g. CAT scanning.
2. Non-ionizing radiation is a type of radiation the mobile communication is based on. It thus cannot modify atoms or molecules of human beings. Nevertheless, strong Radio Frequency (RF) radiation originated from sources such as high-power pulse radars could heat living tissue if the safety zones are not obeyed. Another example is the micro oven which is based on high-power radiation making water molecules vibrate, which in turn heats up the food as a result of the respective friction.

Due to this heat effect, the mobile industry follows established, strict rules set by regulators for the RF radiation safety limits. As an example, although Wi-Fi device can work on the same band as microwave oven, it would not cause thermal effects. Mobile communication specifications are designed accordingly limiting the maximum radiating power level of both base stations as well as mobile devices. Operators need to ensure that the total maximum radiating power levels of base stations stay within the regulated range while mobile device manufacturers design the power levels of their equipment to comply with the limits which are presented as SAR (Specific Absorption Rate). The SAR refers to the amount of energy, produced by e.g. mobile phone, and absorbed by a mass of a biological tissue. The regulators have set the maximum value typically within the range of 1.6 – 2 W/kg.

So, what news we might have for better understanding the potential effects of the mobile radiation? In order to obtain fresh, unbiased updates on the topic, common sense suggests it is safest to seek for high-quality, objective scientific studies. The benefit of the peer-reviewed, open scientific studies is to understand whether the investigated item, such as the use of mobile phone, can be shown to contribute systematically to brain tumors or other health issues while the study team is aware of potential other sources that may contribute to the results. The latter is important as in our modern environment, there are plenty of potential causes for health issues, such as previous or current exposure on, e.g., radon gas, radiation treatment, asbestos and other environmental carcinogens, to mention some. Also, naturally occurring diseases, exposure to ultra violet radiation of the sun and environmental chemicals, and many more reasons may interfere the analysis.

Many international authorities and organizations have analyzed these type of study reports and have made statements based on the findings. Some examples of the observations are the following:

US National Cancer Institute:

• “In 2011, the American Cancer Society (ACS) stated that the IARC [the International Association for Research on Cancer] classification [please see reference 5 for the other evaluated items] means that there could be some cancer risk associated with radiofrequency radiation, but the evidence is not strong enough to be considered causal and needs to be investigated further. Individuals who are concerned about radiofrequency radiation exposure can limit their exposure, including using an ear piece and limiting cell phone use, particularly among children.”
• “In summary, most studies of people published so far have not found a link between cell phone use and the development of tumors. However, these studies have had some important limitations that make them unlikely to end the controversy about whether cell phone use affects cancer risk.”
• “With these limitations in mind, it is important that the possible risk of cell phone exposure continue to be researched using strong study methods, especially with regard to use by children and longer-term use.”

The Minister of Public Works and Government Services, “Limits of Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields in the Frequency Range from 3 kHz to 399 GHz; Safety Code 6”:

• “Despite the advent of numerous additional research studies on RF fields and health, the only established adverse health effects associated with RF field exposures in the frequency range from 3 kHz to 300 GHz relate to the occurrence of tissue heating and nerve stimulation (NS) from short-term (acute) exposures. At present, there is no scientific basis for the occurrence of acute, chronic and/or cumulative adverse health risks from RF field exposure at levels below the limits outlined in Safety Code 6. The hypotheses of other proposed adverse health effects occurring at levels below the exposure limits outlined in Safety Code 6 suffer from a lack of evidence of causality, biological plausibility and reproducibility and do not provide a credible foundation for making science-based recommendations for limiting human exposures to low-intensity RF fields.”

Swisscom is one of the entities collecting statements on the mobile safety topics in order to provide answers for doubts, and to tackle the increasing disinformation circulating in Internet. The respective information source can be found at 5G Mobile Technology Fact Check. The statements include the following:

• “According to all current scientific knowledge, there are no health risks that can be attributed to mobile radiation. When it comes to cancer, however, the data available is still somewhat unclear. Thus, to be on the safe side, the IARC classifies mobile phone radiation as “possibly carcinogenic” – the exact same classification they give to coffee and many other substances.”

Furthermore, among many intentions to clarify the situation in public, this YouTube video by CNBC describes the current field in a common-sense way.

Along with the deployment of 5G, which may use considerably higher radio frequencies of tens of GHz, these frequencies are still far away from the ionizing frequency area, or even from the visible light which resides between the non-ionizing and ionizing radiation zones. It can thus be argued if the new radio bands of 5G would bring along new health considerations.

Referring to GSMA (source 4), expert groups and public health agencies such as the World Health Organization broadly agree that no health risks have been established from exposure to the low-level radio signals used for mobile communications. Furthermore, based on experience with 3G and 4G networks and the results from 5G trials, the overall levels in the community will remain well below the international safety guidelines. Also, compliance assessment of 5G network antennas and devices are dictated by international standards which include new approaches for smart antennas and the use of new frequency ranges.

Please feel free to comment and discuss the topic! While waiting for further clarifications from the scientific field, the following links help the interested ones to find more information on the theme:

1. Radiation and Environmental Health Department of Protection of the Human Environment. World Health Organization: Establishing a dialogue on risks from electromagnetic fields
2. National Cancer Institute: Cellular phones and can­cer risk
3. Government of Canada: Safety Code 6, 2015
4. GSMA: Safety of 5G Mobile Networks
5. IARC classifications: https://monographs.iarc.fr/agents-classified-by-the-iarc/
6. Is the incidence of brain tumors really increasing? A population-based analysis from a cancer registry (2011): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21327863

 
Published 9/15/19, www.5g-simplified.com

5G Simplified: ABCs of Advanced Mobile Communications is a handy guide on the essential aspects of 5G. It demystifies the new generation in a common-sense, highly concrete way without the need for prior knowledge on mobile communications or engineering. This book is designed for anyone interested in the introduction to the latest mobile communications technology including users, telecom and marketing students, specialists, and managers.

5G Simplified explains, in a compact form, the major 5G-related topics. It covers virtualized 5G architecture and network functions, cloud and edge, deployment options, and new frequencies. Among other additional aspects, it includes security and the role of SIM, network planning principles, and techno-economic optimization. It also discusses current understanding about health considerations related to radio frequencies, and clarifies the most important 5G terminology.

The book is available in eBook and paperback formats on Amazon.

I am happy for the feedback which motivated me to write this book. I would appreciate your further comments, questions and suggestions on the book as well as 5G topics and news in general so please do not hesitate to contact me via this blog or directly at 5gsimplified [at] gmail.com.