The architecture of 5g is a combination of network functions and technologies that are designed to provide higher speeds, lower latency, and more flexibility. It combines the best elements from 4G and LTE networks and extends them to new areas, such as the use of millimeter waves.
It delivers speed that can’t be beat on mobile devices, with a low latency that ensures consistent performance everywhere customers need it. In addition, it keeps batteries from dying off when a phone is inactive, using a technique known as adaptive bandwidth.
The Building Blocks of 5G Architecture: Understanding the Core Components
In addition, the 5G architecture has evolved to be more flexible in order to meet the constantly changing needs of new devices and services. This requires a strong sensing functionality that can detect and react to a change in context, triggering a reconfiguration of the node operation.
This functionality is based on monitoring agents that abstract heterogeneous sensors and expose their measurements to a network. The agents can be virtualized and run as programs that are provisioned on demand.
The architecture also integrates Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and a new capability called Network Slicing, which divides network infrastructure into “slices” that are tuned to meet the specific needs of different applications or users. This capability allows operators to effectively manage the wide range of 5G use cases that have different throughput, latency and availability demands.