Low Latency 5G Distributed Wireless Network Architecture: A Techno-Economic Comparison

Abstract

The most profound requirements of fifth-generation (5G) technology implementations are the architecture design and the radio base station technology to capably run applications such as device-to-device, machine-to machine and internet of things at a reduced latency. Owing to these requirements, the implementation of 5G technology is very expensive to mobile network operators (MNO). In this study we modified the existing 4G network to form a distributed wireless network architecture (DWNA); the picocell and distributed antenna system were modified to support the enabling technology of 5G technology were a multi-edge computer (MEC), software-defined networking (SDN), massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), ultra-dense network (UDN), Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and device-to-device (D2D) communication at a reduced cost of ownership, improved coverage and capacity. We present a mathematical model for operational expenditure, capital expenditure and total cost of ownership (TCO) for the DWNA. A mathematical model for DWNA capacity and throughput was presented. Result shows that it is very economical for MNO to rent the space of the tower infrastructure from tower companies. The sensitivity analysis also shows a significant reduction in TCO for both the modified picocell and modified distributed antenna systems.