Integration of 5G Technology into Indian civil and Military Communication Network
Dated : 24 Dec 2020 (IST)
5G Communication technology is the state of the art technology of the foreseeable future. 5G will revolutionize both the civilian and commercial telecommunications sectors. It will generate higher data rates, rapid transmission enabled by high bandwidth, and there are considerable military benefits as well.
Military planners all over the world, have started work to integrate 5G hardware and software into their existing and future capabilities. 5G has a faster response rates as opposed to 4G, wider bandwidth and extremely quick transmission and reception of imagery and other battlefield conditions.
However like other forms of communication even faces interference. So before ushering 5G into the country’s telecommunications network covering wireless as well as wired services these problems have to be analyzed and resolved.
The first is natural interference applicable to all types of electronics ie the mountain terrain and heavy rainfall is likely to interfere with 5G equipment ; and the second is interference from other users/ electronic transmissions, which could potentially affect the complete performance of 5G systems.
Now natural interference can be overcome to a great extent by suitable type of hardware but deliberate electronic interference need special measures. Since any interfere with military communications may seriously impair the Forces capacity to defend India along its extensive land, air and Sea frontiers, all protection measures have to be stalled.
Though for commercial use of 5G robust protection gear to the maximum from interference may not be installed due to high cost, the armed services will be compelled to do so. They will have to invest in rugged transportable equipment that keep interference to a minimum in an operating environment. To ensure the effective and complete performance of 5G military technical experts have to undertake computer simulations to obviate or limit interference.
The armed services have to cater for high-powered jamming signals of the opponent. 5G has high bandwidth. Consequently, jammers will follow into the millimetre wave range to jam systems at close range.
All users, including commercial and military users, will depend on 28 GHz and beyond for short distance transmission. This is unlike 4G which has a longer wavelength and lower frequency signals, generally 3.5 GHz and below.
Across wireless networks, bandwidth at lower frequencies, as is the case with 4G, has effectively limited the capacity to transmit at highnuer speeds to the MB/s range.
5G developers are expecting to increase it to the 1 GB/s range, which will be feasible only at short ranges.
Now comes the tricky part as the Government of India (GoI) is yet to decide as to from where to source 5G from. China’s Huawei’s 5G offer is very competitive in a field comprising Qualcomm, Eriksson and Nokia.
Though the Indian government in its latest announcement clearly stated that it will not allow 5G gear from “non-trusted” sources — implying Huawei and another Chinese company ZTE will not make the cut — the GoI has not taken the final decision to exclude the two Chinese 5G suppliers.
There is a fear that Chinese companies as likely to install “trap door” or “back door” technologies that could enable Chinese spy agencies to conduct espionage. These technologies, if installed by Huawei or ZTE, will in all likelihood jeopardise India’s national security.
We need to rember that even the PLA China will be using the same kind of equipment as they will be supplied by these two companies only. In this context, sourcing any piece of 5G equipment from China’s two telecommunications giants is likely to be very risky from the standpoint of the Indian armed services.
5G transmission might interfere with space-based signal transmission also. Transmission to ground-based receivers from space could suffer. For instance, in the United States, L1 signal transmission from a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) is specifically created for civilian and commercial use and designed to at least limit or tolerate interference from adjacent spectrum in space systems, but not from terrestrial systems from the adjacent band.
Interference of 5G with GPS signals are an issue not just for civilians, but very importantly for the military. Taking all these factors into account, the GoI needs to think through exactly where it sources 5G equipment as well as preventing 5G’s interference with space-based transmission from terrestrial networks.
