The Evolution of 5G and Energy Grids

Nauroze Hoath
Andrew MacCormack
Keaith Khanal
April 2015

Overview
This paper is a collaborative work by students of the course SYSC 4700
Telecommunications Engineering. The authors of the report are:
Nauroze Hoath 100788740
Andrew MacCormack 100821763
Keaith Khanal 100855729
The paper will discuss the expectations of the proposed 5G wireless technology, its
influence in the development of a Smart City and the advancement of the Energy Grid.
All images used in this paper have been cited at the end of the document.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank
Piotr Pietrzyk, development manager at Nutaq and member of the 5G-Ecosytem,
For his time and expertise in this area.
Also
Professor Halim Yanikomeroglu,
For his guidance throughout the period of the course and the project.

Table of Contents
Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................................... 2
The Prime of 4G-LTE................................................................................................................................... 4
The Coming of 5G ...................................................................................................................................... 5
Smart Grids and the Internet of Energy ............................................................................................... 8
Smart Grids and the 5G network ........................................................................................................ 11
Is 4G substantial to develop the Internet of Energy? .......................................................................... 12
The Possibilities 5G brings....................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 14
References of Images: .............................................................................................................................. 15
References: ................................................................................................................................................ 15

The Prime of 4G-LTE

Telecommunication networks are continually developing. As technology advances and
the publics hunger for more content delivered to their devices grows, a definitive
standard to fulfill this requirement was greatly needed. This came in the form of 4G-LTE;
the Long Term Evolution of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS).
LTEs main objective was to provide operators a cost-efficient platform for the growing
mobile data traffic. It had evolved directly from 3G, hence operators had to just upgrade
their current infrastructure, rather than build up from scratch [1]. LTE uses Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing, MIMO antennas and is an all IP based network,
therefore it provides higher peak rates than its predecessor 3G and a larger capacity.

LTE Specifications [2]

Data rates:
Downlink: >100 Mbps Uplink: >50 Mbps
Radio Technologies:
OFDMA, MIMO, SC-FDMA
Low Latency:
User plane RTT: <10 ms Channel Set-up: <100 ms
Modulation types: QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM.
Bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz
Supports both FDD and TDD

LTE had gained significant momentum upon release, both providers and consumers
were ready to adopt this platform. In comparison to 3G, it had opened doors to many
more applications such as sharing larger files, streaming high definition media and even
run latency sensitive applications such as video conferencing and viewing remote

desktops. Generally, any operation that involved the

transfer of large amounts of data had been done with
ease over LTE. This was quite a significant
development and a huge leap in terms of mobile
performance. LTE had revolutionized the way we

4G opens doors to many more

applications such as sharing
larger files, streaming high
definition media and even
latency sensitive applications

accessed the internet, as well as provided consumers drastically lower cost for calls and
used relatively less bandwidth [3].
Despite all the improvements that is brought upon by 4G-LTE, the interest in better
connectivity and inter-connectivity is still ever-growing, hence the need for a next
generation of telecommunication standard is imperative.

The Coming of 5G
The current generation of networks on LTE continues to transform the ways we
communicate, but as the worlds demand for better connectivity grows along with the
need to enable all things onto the network, a better platform is vital.
5G or the fifth generation of mobile networks is the proposed plan and it expected to
herald an even greater rise in the prominence of connectivity, ICT network growth and
the expansion of technology. 5G would bring a world of unprecedented and
uninterrupted information that would be available anywhere and anytime to anything
and anyone. This can range from people and communities to physical things and goods
of all sorts. This is the promise of 5G.

5G might focus on adopting

massive MIMO, small-cell
offloading and mm-Waves.

As it is still in its research phase, there is no

definitive specifications on what 5G would have,
but there are expectations on what it would
bring. Primarily 5G might focus on adopting

massive MIMO, small-cell offloading and mm-Waves [4]. This is expected to bring ultrareliable communications with negligible latencies.

5G Expectations [4]
High System Capacity:
1000x capacity/km2

Higher Data Rate:

100x typical data rate of 4G
Massive Device Connectivity:
100x connected devices
Reduced Latency:
RAN latency: < 1ms
Energy savings & cost reduction

Deploying 5G will not come without some challenges, primarily having a 1000x capacity
with the energy consumption that we have today would be infeasible. The problems of
using massive MIMO would include the diffusion of energy due to scattering, limiting
the directions of signal propagation and the complexity
of spatial multiplexing [5]. There is more than just that,
according to Piotr Pietrzyk, an expert in 5G Test-beds and

The biggest challenge of 5G

is the right business models
and monetization criteria.

a member of 5G-Ecosystems The biggest challenge for

5G is the right business models and monetization criteria. It is not about new air
interface, not about mmWave, Massive MIMO, etc. It is about innovation running in
parallel: technology and business [working together]. Businesses of today will need to
understand and plan how they will utilize and exploit 5G, so that it could generate
revenue and provide a good economic model.

Our Vision of a Smart City

Studies predict the worlds urban population will double by the year 2050. As the world
becomes denser and more urban, our cities will need to become more dynamic and selfsufficient. In the last few years, the Internet of Things paradigm has gained immense
reputation and has slowly conquered the minds of todays engineers and researchers.
This has given birth to the concept of a Smart City.

In a smart city, key services such as water, energy, transportation, public health and
safety will become much more manageable and efficient in use. Routine logistics and
information will also be gathered and supplied to the public by all means available.
Therefore, systemizing the citys critical infrastructure and providing a clean, safe and
sustainable environment in which citizens can work, live and play.
At the forefront of this plan sits the ever-growing Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) industry. They have had tremendous progress in R&D of network
services and connected physical objects. As this development grows, ubiquitous sensing
enabled by sensors and actuators deployed into everyday things will have a vast

presence. These deployments are expected to generate a lot of data, which will then be
analysed, interpreted, shared and adapted for their respective applications.

Smart Grids and the Internet of Energy

The energy infrastructure is arguably the most significant feature of any conceivable city.
If unavailable for a prolonged period, all other functions will eventually cease. In existing
electricity infrastructure we have a typically
centralized approach where a few powerful
central stations broadcast energy to the
different consumers. However in order to

Energy infrastructure is
arguably the most significant
feature of any conceivable city.

resolve the ever rising need for energy and comply with the socio-economic demands
of our time, we will have to implement a smarter infrastructure that will become feasible
with the emergence of 5G.
The strong correlation of the Information and Communication (ICT) technologies,
especially through the usage of networked devices in the energy domain, will lead to a
sophisticated dynamic ecosystem referred to as the Internet of Energy [6]. The term is
gaining reputation in the energy sector, as the current system has been much
deregulated and the need for a smarter solution is in much demand.
At the center of this project is the Smart Grid [7], an improved dynamic grid system that
manages electricity in a reliable and sustainable manner. It integrates power generation
and communication technologies and provides a bidirectional interaction platform
between energy producers and consumers.
The smart grid system would be able to carry out various tasks taking into account
dynamic and content specific information. The system will have inter-connected objects
which would make use of Machine-2-Machine protocols to cooperate, share
information, and be active elements in communities as well as the entire system. Using

embedded devices to network, the business and the real world can interact in real time
through auxiliary services.

These connected objects comprise of embedded systems, wireless sensor

networks, and global computing. In detail, the embedded systems have communication
and sensing capabilities that can cooperate and organize themselves autonomously into
networks to achieve a common task. Such connections are mainly application specific
but cooperation with various devices can be done by shared abstractions. In the overall
system, devices would work together as they have one or more common goals or
different ways to achieve the end-goals.
At the last mile of the smart grid, is the smart home where interconnected
devices such as smart meters and smart
appliances will share information such as
energy consumption with each other and
will be actively participating in the energy
management system. They will be tightly

Smart meters and smart

appliances will share
information such as energy
consumption with each other

monitored and regulated in real-time. For example, if at a given instance an appliance

such as a washing machine or fridge is facing an out of ordinary behaviour that could
alter the normal energy consumption of the house, this would be detected in real-time
and the information would be sent to the smart meter. The data would be then
interpreted and evaluated. Following the evaluation of data, an appropriate response
would be taken and the cycle would repeat.

The smart house will also be able to collaborate with various external objects
such as alternative energy resources, marketplaces, enterprises, and energy providers.
The communication would be set-up via web services through a 5G framework, this
would allow a lot of flexibility if the user wishes to review how their house performs in
sustainability and energy usage. A common service based interaction would be
empowering the creation of this sophisticated application.

Smart Grids and the 5G network

The heterogeneity of the system would be hidden behind gateways which would allow
the devices to use the 5G framework with an IP-based infrastructure. These devices
would have their own IP address and could be directly addressed with the use of the
IPv6 internet standard. This IP penetration to the discrete level would allow for the
devices to provide their information for monitoring,
regulation and control. In addition, these devices
would be able to dynamically discover other nearby
devices and collaborate with them to achieve a

Devices would have their own

IP addresses and could be
directly addressed with the
use of IPv6

common goal. Machine-to-machine communication would be utilized by locally running

applications that monitor and control tasks, and also provide the results as needed. The
manufacturer of the appliances would have to optimize their product to be operated as
efficiently as possible and allow for applications that enable this interconnectivity to
perform easily.
In contrast, if the device is equipped with advanced capabilities it would be able to
interact with network-based servers hosted in enterprise systems. With this ability, in the
smart grid system the devices would be able to enhance their own functionality in a
dynamic way by integrating services that were not initially present. Let us consider this
scenario, there was an enormous amount of energy being generated from a wind farm
due to strong winds overnight, but there are not many consumers to utilize this energy
late at night which would cause the price to drop. The smart grid system would realize

Smart Grid System would

realize the drop in price as it
is collaborating with an online
price monitoring system.

this drop in price as it is collaborating with an

online price monitoring system and distribute this
energy wherever needed at that time, such as
charging electric cars or powering street lights at
night. This would help in both the business aspect,

where they would make money from the price drop and in the consumption aspect, by
not wasting cheap alternative energy.

Is 4G substantial to develop the Internet of Energy?

4G technology is still the most advanced mobile telecommunications technology that is
implemented today. Adding to this, engineers and network specialists around the world
are working on improving this generation of networking technologies. 4G LTE-Advanced
is still expected to hit a peak data rate of 1 Gbps as originally defined by the
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) [2]. This now begs the question; can 4G be
used to make a true Smart Grid?
Let us start with the energy demand system required for a Smart Grid. The ideal Smart
Grid should be able to react with minimal latency. For example, a distribution company
like Hydro Ottawa currently receives the energy consumption data from smart meters to
monitor if there is too much or too little electricity going to certain areas of the system.
They also need to determine if they require more or less electricity to be generated from
the generating company; in this case it would be Ontario Power Generation (OPG). This
process of communication between a smart meter and the power generating company
varies due to the different monitoring systems and the
operators running them. In a true smart grid, a smart
meter should provide a communication path directly to
the source of power. This will improve reliability and

In a True Smart Grid, the

Smart Meter provides the
communication path to the
source of power

sustainability of the Smart Grid.

For this to happen, a fast data rate is required. The word fast is relative. In this case, the
data being transferred will be in the Kbyte range [8]. Having data rates of 100 Mbps will
be more than enough to have an up-to-date system. However there are hundreds of
thousands of smart meters in a city like Ottawa. Also taking into account all the smart

devices (e.g. washing machines) that the new Smart Grid needs to handle, the amount of
devices on the network will be well into the millions.
This now brings up the issue of connectivity among all of these devices. For flawless
interconnectivity, the network will need to be large enough to handle devices working
with the smart grid. With more and more devices per square kilometer connected to the

The network will need to be

large enough to handle
devices working with the
smart grid

smart grid network, the more crowded the

spectrum will become. This will cause poor
quality in service (e.g. devices being
disconnected from the network due to
overcrowding).

4G LTE-Advanced will initially be able to handle the new internet of energy smart
grids. However, overcrowding is inevitable as more and more devices become
connected to the network. To make things worse, other devices that are not a part of
the smart grid network may contribute to the network congestion.

The Possibilities 5G brings

5G may be the answer to the problems that 4G LTE would encounter. Lets address the
issue of overcrowding. This will not be an issue in a 5G network, especially if it is using
millimeter waves. The frequency range of millimeter waves is from 25GHz to 300GHz. At
these higher frequencies, the issue of overcrowding disappears. There will be more
bandwidth which in turn will allow for higher data rates. The drawback to using these
higher frequency waves is that they are more susceptible to noise and propagation loss.
Using small cells will prevent these drawbacks. Small cells are low powered radio access
nodes that operate in licensed spectrum and unlicensed carrier-grade Wi-Fi. Small cells
have a range from ten meters to several hundred [9]. They can be used to provide
outdoor and indoor wireless service. These small cells extend the network service

coverage and increase network capacity. This will allow smart devices to communicate
to smart meters and smart meters to communicate to sub-stations and/or the main
distribution station.

Conclusion
A revolution in connectivity is underway, namely the 5G network. The transition to 5G
will enhance the infrastructure of todays mobile networks and will provide a much
larger capacity than its predecessor 4G-LTE. The proposed idea of using mmWave will
open up a larger spectrum and therefore mobile operators could refrain from limiting
their network to users. However, with the approach of using mmWave frequency bands
the network can become very dense and therefore deploying small cells would resolve
this issue. The data rates on this network would be significantly higher than todays
standard rates, providing smoother operation for a large variety of applications.
With the progress of 5G, the concept of a Smart City becomes more realizable. Key
areas such as water, energy and transportation become much more manageable in a
smart city. The routine monitoring of data in real-time will provide improved reliability
of these services. The introduction of a Smart Grid will fix the failures of todays energy
system and provide citizens detailed information about their consumption and energy
choices.
As the ICT industry empowers traditional processes and enables sophisticated
interconnected services to emerge, it can be expected that a new breed of innovative
services in energy that we cannot anticipate today, will be possible.

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