Meeting 5G high-speed network via SFP+ connectors

Author：danny / time：2020-09-15 / The number of clicks：567

During consecutive public holidays, news channels would always show the traffic congestion on the highway going to Yilan and Hualian. The journey that normally takes only 40 minutes becomes 3 hours, making people sigh out of frustration since the three-lane highway is unable to handle the large volume of vehicles. If the government can make the three-lane road much wider, then there won’t be any problem, even if there are consecutive holidays. A wide road can handle high traffic volume regardless of the speed of each car reaching 120km per hour. This is where the original idea for the evolution of 5G networks and SFP+ connectors came from.

The 5G broadband network has three main characteristics: high speed, low latency, and wide connection. It is the solution for high-speed networks advancing to the next era. A comparison between high-speed 5G network and 4G as well as how the former will change society in the future, a detailed analysis and examples for each characteristic are discussed below:

High-rate transmission speed: The transmission speed of 5G is 10 to 100 times faster than that of 4G.
If we want to download a two-hour (36GB) movie with a 4G network in 100Mbps speed, it will take six minutes. With a 5G network, the download speed is 10Gbps, which takes only 3.6 seconds. With just a few clicks, you can instantly watch your favorite movie. 5G networks can be used to support VR/AR entertainment applications due to the increased bandwidth. Even if we are seated in the last row at a concert or we want to watch a replay of a sports event, we can get to enjoy them through the use of VR/AR technology.

Low-latency transmission time: 5G is more than one-tenth less than the delay time of 4G network.
With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the government has launched the "Communication Diagnosis and Treatment" to reduce the number of hospital visitors and cross-infection, allowing patients to use video conferencing at home for doctor’s consultation and asking their family members to collect medicine from the hospital.
5G network has a high speed of 10Gbps; therefore, the telecom industry plans to apply the high-speed and low-latency characteristics of 5G to the cross-field integration of telemedicine, breaking through distance limitations and enabling patients to do things at home.

Widely connected devices: 5G network can support millions of mobile devices per square kilometer at the same time.
The evolution of SFP+ connectors helps us build the true Internet of Things. Through the transmission and exchange of information, we can establish multiple smart warehouses that can control inventory and goods at any time so as to reduce human error. In addition, automatic ordering machines are made possible in fast food restaurants, speeding up consumer purchase and checkout.

Upgrading from 4G to 5G requires a wider base station and an upgraded SFP+ connector. We will introduce and compare these requirements in detail in the next article.