MN603 Wireless Networks and Security Assignment 1: 5G Technology

Desklib provides solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

MN603 –
WIRELESS NETWORKS AND
SECURITY –
ASSIGNMENT 1
Student name:
Student id:

Table of Contents
Introduction to 5G................................................................................................................................3
Why 5G?...............................................................................................................................................4
Comparison with Existing cellular network technologies....................................................................4
Architecture of 5G................................................................................................................................6
Identification and Analysis of 5G Attacks............................................................................................8
Identification and Analysis of 5G limitation in network coverage......................................................9
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................10
References..........................................................................................................................................11
List of figures
Figure 1: CUPs.....................................................................................................................................7
Figure 2: Protocol stack........................................................................................................................7
1

Introduction to 5G
Communication plays an important role in exchange of data. The wireless technology has witnessed
the development at booming speed. The report deals with various wireless cellular technologies and
detailed study about 5G (Fifth Generation).
A cellular network is a broadcasting network which is scattered over an area called cell set out by
base stations. The cell uses various frequencies to avoid interference from the neighbouring cells so
as to provide a better communication. The combination of these cells makes a geographic area that
helps devices to communicate. With the advancement from 1G to 5G the world of
telecommunication is totally changed and now the aim of the telecom industries is to provide more
advancement and furnish the best services to the customers across the globe. The advancement in
wireless is based upon the hierarchy i.e.: the way generation evolved. Starting from the first
generation(1G) and then so on, the successive generations are much faster and reliable with
improved features. 1G was introduced in early 1980s and the next generation is 5G which is
offering faster speeds and more reliable connections.[1]
2

Why 5G?
As the world entered the era of advancement, the main need is to process and store data. The data
that needs to be exchanged, converted and then stored. To make this process more reliable and
faster and reliable the 5G network came into the existence. One reason that 5G took so long to
define because of its architecture and deployment dependencies. Video traffic and to support future
advancements become the key factor to support faster networks.
5G is also designed to target future technologies that could target network for the IOT (Internet of
things). In order to support huge number of devices, the 5G network is building off of the LTE
(Long term evolution) platform. 5G will use two narrowband technologies that will provide faster
speed and a more reliable connection to scale down the device and network complexity.
With its efficiency to transfer data 40 times faster in shorter lag time than a current 4G standard will
help autonomous industries to communicate well over the network. The communication will be
much simpler and easy to use. This makes it more useful especially for the IOT device and various
sensors in machines that requires faster communications over the network.
With the advent of 5G, the single infrastructure can now serve various present and future real world
needs by focusing on services that requires higher bandwidth, such as Internet of Things(IOT),
streaming HD Videos, exchanging large amount of data etc.[3]
Comparison with Existing cellular network technologies
The mobile technology has greatly evolved. With each major advancement the new technologies are
invented to overcome the drawbacks of previous ones. The table given below compares the various
cellular technologies that evolved with the time. There are various factors based upon which these
differences are tailored to understand the comparison much better.
Table 1: Comparison of various wireless technologies.
FACTORS 1G 2G 3G 4G 5G
Communication
Spectrum
Covers 1.0
GHz spectrum
Covers 1.5-1.8
GHz spectrum.
Covers 1.8-2.0
GHz spectrum
Covers 2.0-8.0
GHz Spectrum
Covers 3-
300.0 GHz
spectrum.
Modulation
Techniques
BFDMA TDMA/CDMA It used code
division
multiple access
technique
It used code
division multiple
access technique
(LTE) for
It used code
division
multiple
access
3

FACTORS 1G 2G 3G 4G 5G
(CDMA) and
Global system
for
mobile(GSM)
modulation.
modulation. technique
(LTE) for
modulation.
Network Speed
and Bandwidth
Utilization.
The network
speed is
around 2 kbps
The network
speed varies
around 14.4-64
kbps
The network
speed varies
around 2 Mbps
The speed variation
occurs from 200
Mbps to 1Gbps for
low mobility
devices.
It possess
highest
speed than
all
generation
around 1
Gbps and
higher.
Medium Access
Control
Mechanism
It used Analog
cellular
technology
Digital cellular
technology
Broad
bandwidth
CDMA, IP
technology.
It uses seamless
combination of
broadband,
LAN/WAN etc. &
Unified IP to
control.
It used
seamless
combination
of broadband
WLAN etc.
& Unified IP
to control.
Security
Technique and
Risks
Poor spectral
efficiency and
security.
Limited data
rates and
support for on
demand internet
and email
services with
simple
authentication.
Real
performance.
But failure of
WAP.
Implements
mutual
authentication,
RRC, MAPSec
and IPSec.
Require more
complicated
hardware and high
power. Implements
E-UTRAN, Wimax
and uses EEA2 or
EIA2
Required
more power
and
expensive
hardware
with
overheads
due to areas
and limited
signals.
Implements
SNOW 3G,
4

FACTORS 1G 2G 3G 4G 5G
AES-
CMAC, and
ZUC
algorithms
for
encryption.
Core Network It is based
upon
PSTN(public
switched
telephone
network).
It is based
PSTN(public
switched
telephone
network)
It uses Packet
Network as
Core network
technology.
It is based upon
Internet technology.
It is based
upon Internet
technology.
Architecture of 5G
The architecture of 5G network is quite advanced. It is an upgraded version of the technology which
forms the basis of 4G technology. Basically it consists of various network components and
enormous terminal area units. The 5G has evolved and invoked from the standard Application
program interface(API) based upon 4G. Initially the 5G architecture may look different but when
looked closely, it’s completely a revolutionized architecture from 4G network only.
The main goal behind 5G was to cover the loop holes or the drawbacks in 4G network. There is
need to serve higher bandwidth so as to deal with future needs like streaming HD videos or working
with IOT devices like sensors, processors etc. All these requires high speed and reliability which is
provided by 5G network.
The 5G core has got its architecture from the 4G EPC. These both steps revolutionise the 5G
network:
• The usage of CUPS (Control and User Plane Separation)
• Reorganizing the CUPS into services to serve
CUPS: They form the first evolution step for 5G. It has two function mainly, SGW and PGW that
were divide over into data and control plane components, making them perform much better and
independently thus making them modular.
5

The basic division of components were:
Component Division 1 Division 2
SGW SGW-C SGW-U
PGW PGW-c PGW-U
Reorganization to services: The next step was reorganization of services. Basically the cups
divided components are organized to serve the large area with higher bandwidth and better
reliability.[4]
5G
Protocol Stack
The protocol defines the rules and the regulations. The 5G protocol layers were mapped into an OSI
stack which consist of several layers as shown.
• OWA Layer: Acronym for Open Wireless Architecture layer. The main function of this is to
act as data link layer and physical layer similar to OSI Stack.
6
Figure 1: CUPs
Figure 2: Protocol stack

• Network Layer: The main function of this layer is to route date from source to the
destination IP devices. It can be broken down into upper and lower network layers.
• Open Transport Layer: It sums up the functionality of both transport layer and session
layer.
• Application Layer: It performs the encryption and decryption of data and mark them into
proper format.
Identification and Analysis of 5G Attacks
There are various challenges that are to be faced while opting the 5G attacks. Some common
challenges are:
 Setup Challenge – The main challenge is to setup the infrastructure. Since 4G is still
evolving, the 5G poses challenge of standardization and its applications.
 Communication, Navigation, & Sensing – The 5G service depends upon the spectrum but
it requires larger infrastructure to come back and fro from different sources.
 Maintaining the security and privacy – It is the most important thing that 5G must ensure.
There are certain threats that are associated with the 5G that it must opt some encryption or
the data protection layer to protect the data.
The various issues that 5G pose are:
 Risk to Public Health: When we talk about radiations, there is always an health concerns.
Though there are not so many solid proofs that cellular network technology will bring
serious health concerns but the WHO has warned against the serious threats due to these
radiations. Long-time exposure to these radiations may cause cancer and effect the whole
body.
The main issue is the use of high frequency by 5G that lies in microwave spectrum. Though
still studies are going on the adverse effects of this but still there is a chance of radiations
exposure due to 5G.
 Security Concerns: The main goal of 5G is to contribute to autonomous industries like car
automation, IOT etc. but unless any standardization came, it still poses a serious security
threat as these devices have capabilities to control our day to day activities and can cause
invasion of human privacy as well. There are many cases that shows the adverse or the
misuse of IOT devices. The network speed may be fastest but still an additional concern is
7

require to make the system safe especially when the data holds the most important value to
person in terms of both privacy and security.[5]
Identification and Analysis of 5G limitation in network coverage
The 5G standards can be classified into two groups:
FR1: ranges from 450 MHz to 6 GHz
FR2: ranges from 24 MHz to 52 GHz
Researchers are more interested to use the FR2 range that is an extremely high frequency. But it
carries a disadvantage. Since these waves requires much more base stations, the need of these will
increase as per the density of area increases. Thus it requires more and more base stations making
area more prone to radiations and interference.
The other limitations include:
 Since its still evolving, the skilled labour is very less for its maintenance.
 The 5G devices will be costlier and need time to resolve the security and privacy concerns in the
technology.[2]
 5G is still developing and its covers limited distance only.
8

CONCLUSION
The coming era is the development of the 5G. The 4G has be evolved into a next generation
technology but still the 5G is facing many challenges in the development and the innovation phase.
5G technology will be more used in future because it will be affecting the autonomous industries at
a large extent due to its higher speed than 4G. Since, 5G is nothing but the advance technology
based upon 4G, the single independent structure will make information processing really easy and
fast as compared to the other technologies. It will help future to grow at enormous rate especially in
the field of IOT, autonomous industries.
Like the earlier technologies, the 5G network could be an important part of the world. There are
various used cases but however they pose some serious threats in terms of security and privacy.
Nevertheless, the 5G would be more reliable and faster than other technology but it will be a
challenge to protect the data from hackers. Since the devices using 5G technology will be part of
our day to day life, they’re going to be much more dependency of human on it making it more
vulnerable to threats. So their usage of 5G must be based upon the drawbacks and the positive
impacts it poses on the society. Still, the advancement helps human to grow and improve, the 5G
network will really bring speed and much more automation to our life making it easier.
9

References
[1] C. Neiger, “5 Facts You Didn’t Know About 5G Wireless,” The Motley Fool, 16-Feb-2016.
[Online]. Available: https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/16/5-facts-you-didnt-know-
about-5g-wireless.aspx
[2] T. Fisher, “5G Challenges: Why It Isn’t Rolling Out Faster,” Lifewire, 2019. [Online]. Available:
https://www.lifewire.com/5g-challenges-4580354.
[3] Nat Berman, “Why 5G Will Be Way More Important than you Think,” Money Inc, 11-Jul-2018.
[Online]. Available: https://moneyinc.com/why-5g-will-be-way-more-important-than-you-think.
[4] Huawei, “Network Architecture-A High Level View 5G Network Architecture-A High Level
View 5G,” huawei. .
[5] Molina-Masegosa, R. and Gozalvez, J., 2017. LTE-V for sidelink 5G V2X vehicular
communications: A new 5G technology for short-range vehicle-to-everything
communications. IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, 12(4), pp.30-39.
10