Introduction: The Communication Haul Challenge

Nowadays, the mobile Internet is a pervasive phenomenon that is changing social trends and playing a pivotal role in creating a digital economy. This, in part, is driven by advancements in semiconductor technology, which are enabling faster and more energy‐compliant devices, such as smartphones, tablets and sensor devices, among others. However, a truly smart digital world is still in its infancy and the current trends are set to continue, leading to an unprecedented rise in mobile data traffic and intelligent devices. In fact, according to an Ericsson report [1], a typical laptop will generate 11 GB, a tablet 3.1 GB and a smartphone 2 GB per month by the end of 2018. These figures represent the changing communication paradigm, where the end user will not only receive data but generate data; in other words, the end user will become a ‘prosumer’ running data‐hungry applications, for example, high‐definition wireless video streaming, machine‐to‐machine communication, health‐monitoring applications and social networking. Therefore, existing technology requires a radical engineering design upgrade in order to compete with ever‐growing user expectations and to accommodate the foreseen increase in traffic. The change will be driven by market expectations, and the new technology being considered is fifth generation (5G) communications [2]. Experts anticipate that 5G will deliver and meet the expectations of a new era in wireless connectivity, and will play a key role in enabling this so‐called digital world. 1