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Blog Editor’s Note: Good posting on Linkedin. A few thoughts:
- China has a huge edge over the US on 5G because of this. While US networks rely heavily (almost exclusively) on GPS, China has and is improving its comprehensive timing infrastructure. It includes satellites at MEO and LEO, low frequency terrestrial broadcast, exceptionally well measured fiber links, and suites of clocks.
- The US could easily do much better than we are. See our white paper “A Resilient National Timing Architecture.”
- The telecommunications industry has endorsed this approach. See the recent NSTAC report to the President, and ATIS letters to Congress.
- Unfortunately, there is nothing in the infrastructure bill, and appears to be nothing in the normal appropriations for next year to make this happen.
- We understand that without GPS, US telecom networks will be in serious trouble with a day.
Synchronization: The critical element of 5G Networks
Dhiman Chowdhury
Transforming the Way World Connects | Product Leader
Time synchronization is critical to 5G infrastructure and fundamental conduit of the network. It begins with the very spectrum on which RAN (Radio Access Network) depends upon. The 5G Radio spectrum uses TDD (Time Division Duplex) as the preferred method of spectrum usage. In TDD, a single frequency is shared for uplink and downlink communications. Given the scarcity of spectrum, TDD allows efficient use of spectrum. That’s not to say that FDD technique of spectrum usage cannot be done in 5G. However, the latter is a rarity and requires two frequencies for communications, an ineffective use of spectrum to say the least.
