By Lakhbir Singh, Charter Communications
The way we create, share and consume information has led to a tremendous increase in wireless data traffic. The demand for wireless data continues to grow exponentially and that puts extreme requirements on the future communications systems. Each generation of mobile technology, from the first to the fifth (5G), has been designed to meet the new needs of end users and network operators. While the number of mobile connected devices is increasing rapidly, from 8.8 billion in 2018 to a predicted 13.1 billion by 2023, at the same, as anticipated by Edholm’s law of bandwidth, the achievable data-rate is scaling new heights, from 20 Gigabits per second (Gbps) of peak data rate in 5G to expectedly 1 Terabit per second (Tbps) within the next few years. Figure-1 shows the roadmap for the wireless data rates up to year 2035 and is a good indicator of the past and anticipated growth in data rates.