Análise da cobertura e performance de redes 5G comerciais em um cenário urbano

Abstract

The constant advancement of technology has led to a growing demand for increasingly higher connectivity. The fifth generation (5G) of mobile telephony emerges to meet this demand, proposing a high bandwidth service, low latency, and support for multiple devices simultaneously. Despite the great need, the deployment of this service in Brazil has not yet shown impactful results due to the high investment required for the implementation of the more advanced versions of 5G. This has led the operators to currently operate versions more integrated with LTE, not adding a sufficient quantity of new stations. This work presents an analysis of the 5G service offered by mobile operators in a neighborhood in the city of Natal, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, aiming to provide an overview of the service and assess its quality by comparing measurement results at strategic locations. The obtained results indicated that the 5G signal coverage in the analyzed region varies among different service providers, both in terms of coverage area and data rates. Some locations showed very favorable rates compared to LTE; however, the coverage in the neighborhood is not yet complete.