A study of wireless network evolution from 4G to 5G: standalone vs non-standalone

5th Generation mobile network standards are finalized and 5G network rollouts have started across various operators. Some operator have different kind of existing 4G networks while some are green field deployments. To fulfill urgent rollout of 5G some operators have done non-Stand Alone deployment. This paper presents a baseline of 4G architecture with various interfaces. The 5G architecture is also presented along with key nodes of 5G. A detailed analysis regarding 5G deployment strategy along with comparison of Stand Alone and Non Stand Alone deployment strategy is presented with a suggested potential path for operators having existing 4G networks to move towards 5G network.