5G networks: The next gen evolution

The exponential growth of the mobile users in ubiquitous manner has made it a timely need to attain increased capacity, higher data rate and decreased latency for better quality of service. This has led to the extensive research efforts towards the development of next generation wireless networks i.e. 5G. In this paper, we begin with the description of the salient features, requirements and potential technologies for realizing the 5G technology. The mmWave radio technology being one of the promising solutions towards achieving the data rate in the order of 1-100 Gbps is explored for its propagation characteristics. Two models- Close-in Free Space and Floating Intercept are analyzed for path loss prediction at mmWaves. It is observed that in order to maintain the received power above a typical threshold setting of -100 dBm, the network coverage in 5G networks is limited to 300 m in outdoor and approximately 50 m in indoor environments in the NLOS conditions.