Article is from WeChat public account: Wireless Deep Sea (ID: wuxian_shenhai) , author: ephemera tsetse, from FIG title: Oriental IC
Since China Radio and Television obtained the 5G license, the industry is curious about how this “operator” with a loose structure, empty spectrum and no experience in wireless communication network construction and operation should build 5G.
In a recent report from Industrial Securities, State Grid will jointly build a 5G network by establishing a joint venture subsidiary with a 5G licensee. The estimated investment is between RMB 60.6 billion and RMB 83.4 billion.
The “5G licensee” is undoubtedly only China Radio and Television. Because China Mobile has already built 50,000 stations, China Unicom and China Telecom are cooperating for joint construction and sharing. They are doing a lot of work, and only radio and television are still doing nothing.
So, why did State Grid get involved in 5G network construction?
The reason why 5G is different from 4G is because it targets the Internet of Everything. By supporting the three major scenarios of eMBB, mMTC and uRLLC, it not only supports high-speed mobile broadband, but also enables massive connections and low latency. Various vertical industries with strong demand in high reliability and other scenarios.
Electricity is just such an industry that is fully developing towards the digital energy Internet. From the interconnection of the previous large-scale power grids to smart grid applications such as new energy access, smart meters and other smart grid applications that are flourishing at this stage, they will continue to evolve towards comprehensive intelligence.
Let’s take a look at how well the current demand for smart grids matches 5G.
First of all, for power system production control requirements: such as distribution automation, active distribution network differential protection, distributed power access control and other applications, the reliability needs to be 99.999%, and the delay requirement is from 10 ms to 50 milliseconds. Obviously this is the demand for 5G uRLLC.
Then, for the mobile application requirements in the power production management system, regular drone or robot inspections, high-definition video surveillance, AR / VR assisted maintenance and training, and various natural disaster protection tasks are required. These tasks require a large number of pictures, videos, or media stream backhauls, which belong to the eMBB scene.
In addition, for a large number of power infrastructure information collection needs, such as management and status monitoring, energy consumption management, street light control, smart meter reading and other services, the number of connections is huge, and latency and bandwidth requirements are not high. The business is exactly what it needs.
It can be seen that the smart grid has demand for the three major application scenarios of 5G, and the 5G joint venture between State Grid and China Radio and Television also has the most basic driving force.
Besides that, smart grid also has a clear demand for another key technology of 5G: edge computing.
Using edge computing technology, the power grid can sink the data processing logic currently located at the master station, and the local smart terminal can process the power information in real time. In this way, on the one hand can improve the response speed and reduce the delay of the distribution automation system, and on the other hand can reduce the bandwidth occupation caused by long-distance data transmission.
The State Grid is not bad. It ranks fifth among the world’s top 500 companies. Its revenue is also three times that of China’s largest telecommunications operator, China Mobile.
The most important thing is that the State Grid has big dreams. In fact, back in 2010, Liu Zhenya, general manager of the State Grid, stated on the “Smart Grid International Forum”: “By implementing smart grid projects such as power fiber-to-the-home, power grids and telecommunications networks, , The Internet and other organic integration. “
Early in 2019, State Grid detailed its strategy of “building a world-class energy Internet enterprise” and proposed a strategic goal of “three types and two networks.” The “three types” refers to the construction of energy Internet companies with the characteristics of hub, platform, and sharing; “Two networks” refers to the establishment of “smart grids” and “Ubiquitous Electricity Internet of Things.”
One has money and dreams, one has a license, complements each other, each takes what they need, and then they are happily together. Radio and television licenses and spectrum are taken for granted. In addition to the money, what other capital does the State Grid have to build 5G?
The most important resource in the hands of the State Grid is the iron tower.
Currently, the State Grid has 2.91 million transmission towers. If 5G base station equipment can be installed on these towers, it will become a huge advantage in building 5G. Not only is the problem of the site resolved, there is no need to worry about power supply.
At the same time, China Tower has 1.95 million communication tower stations. It can be seen that the number of power towers of the State Grid far exceeds that of China’s iron towers. If these towers can be shared and redundant construction is reduced, it will be a win-win situation for all.
Actually, National Grid does the same. In April 2019, the State Grid, China Southern Power Grid and China Tower signed a strategic cooperation agreement, opening a “shared tower” cooperation model.
Another core resource of the State Grid is: substations.
The State Grid has more than 5 million substation resources, covering 88% of the land and resources area. In addition, 90% of these substations are in residential, industrial and commercial environments. These substation resources facilitate the deployment of edge computing.
Using edge computing technology can effectively reduce network delay and reduce the bandwidth occupied by long-distance data transmission. It can be used not only for smart grids but also for other 5G eMBB and uRLLC services.
To sum up, whether the State Grid has 2.91 million iron towers, plus 5 million + substation resources, and the 700M spectrum advantage of radio and television, can it create a new world of 5G industry applications?
Article is from WeChat public account: Wireless Deep Sea (ID: wuxian_shenhai) , Author: ephemera tsetse