How 5G Technology Will Change The World

The arrival of 5G will not only transform tech but it will also provide an entirely new mobile experience. This wireless technology is being introduced with the primary aim to reduce maintenance costs and energy consumption.

According to a study, 5G is expected to deliver speeds up to 100 times faster than typical 4G technology. As 5G technologies have been continuously evolving, it will certainly change the way we spend our lives, our communications will be faster than you can imagine plus our connections will be stronger. But with such sky-high expectations also come some challenges.

When you imagine a future powered by 5G, connected factory devices that “talk” to each other, mobile internet-connected to multiple devices at the same time, different vehicles communicating with the roads they travel on, and accessibility of information at unprecedented speeds will come to mind. This goes without saying that the new generation of technology opens new opportunities for telecommunications service providers. The arrival of 5G, the fifth-generation network has been the talk of the town lately. But, if you still are not clear about what 5G is all about, this article is for you!

What is 5G?

5G is the 5th generation mobile network. It is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices.

5G wireless technology is meant to deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users. Higher performance and improved efficiency empower new user experiences and connect new industries.

1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G all led to 5G, which is designed to provide more connectivity than was ever available before. 5G is a unified, more capable air interface. It has been designed with an extended capacity to enable next-generation user experiences, empower new deployment models and deliver new services. With high speeds, superior reliability and negligible latency, 5G will expand the mobile ecosystem into new realms. 5G will impact every industry, making safer transportation, remote healthcare, precision agriculture, digitized logistics — and more — a reality.

Here are the Industries where 5G will have some of the biggest impact in the Future years ahead:

1. Automotive Industry and Mobility

All of the smart cars on the market today have one big weakness in common: they rely solely on their own sensors and cameras for manoeuvre and navigation. The new 5G mobile networks, however, have been designed with the automotive industry in mind.

With 5G we get better coverage, higher capacity, lower latency and much higher data speeds. This will enable your car not only to stream Spotify on a long journey but also to drive itself, gathering information from other cars, pedestrians, traffic lights and even the road itself along the way. The move from level four automation (high automation) to level five automation (complete automation) will require significant infrastructure investment, something that those working in smart city development fully appreciate. In this context, 5G could even be described as the vital link between autonomous vehicles, smart cities and the changing face of urban development.

5G is fast. Like really fast – Let’s start with the simple facts first: from a peak speed perspective, 5G is 100 times faster than 4G. This means that during the time it took to download just one piece of data with 4G the same could have been downloaded 100 times over a 5G network. You can just imagine how this speed is important for a connected car when it comes to the amount of data that will need to be shared.

According to Dr. Joy Laskar, CTO of Maja Systems, future autonomous cars will generate nearly 2 petabits of data, which is equivalent to 2 million gigabits. “With an advanced Wi-Fi connection, it will take 230 days to transfer a week-worth of data from a self-driving car,” Laskar said. With 5G, that time would go from 230 days to just over 2 days.

Lower latency – 5G also means low latency, as in a matter of milliseconds. Latency is the amount of time it takes to send information from one point to another. We encounter it everyday when we drive, and make a decision to brake suddenly: latency is the amount of time our brain sends the instruction to our foot to push down on the brake in this example. When it comes to networks, we usually talk about the difference between the 20 milliseconds of our current 4G networks to the 1-5 milliseconds of the 5G network.

However, there’s even a larger difference when it comes to self-driving cars. Human reaction speed is a bit above 200 milliseconds, leading to accidents every day. 5G’s 5 millisecond latency is practically real-time, which can be used to provide the user with additional safety information before it is visible, for example roadworks, fast moving emergency vehicles and visually hidden pedestrians about to cross the street. These cooperative Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) will help the driver to drive safely and avoid accidents.

5G’s increased reliability – Reliable communication means guaranteed delivery of time-critical information. For example, for remotely driving an autonomous vehicle in real-time in case its autonomous function fails. There is no other alternative than cellular networks for enabling such services. 5G cellular technology is designed from day one for ultra-reliable communication with low latency to enable complex machine centric use cases, including autonomous cars in dense urban as well as high speed scenarios. We expect adoption of fully autonomous capabilities in limited areas initially leveraging 5G signal coverage, with long-term evolution towards fully autonomous transport eco-system for maximizing safety, efficiency, and sustainability.

How will 5G affect the automotive industry and mobility – Click Here for Further Reading

2. Manufacturing and the Factory of the Future

It has been more than 200 years since the Industrial Revolution kickstarted the mechanized manufacturing industry, bringing mass-produced goods to market. Now, with the arrival of 5G technology, the sector faces its biggest transformation yet. The fourth Industrial Revolution, often referred to as “Industry 4.0,” will usher in smart factories. In these futuristic factories, connected devices can sense their environments and interoperate with each other, making decentralized decisions. Many expect this transformation to rely on the underlying capabilities of next-generation 5G networks. The need for agile, fluid infrastructure is a consistent theme in Industry 4.0 discussions. As the devices in tomorrow’s factories grow and become more sophisticated, manufacturers understand that they must be able to adapt the networks that connect them quickly, reconfiguring them at will.

Tomorrow’s smart factories will be filled with sensors, each monitoring different aspects of the working environment. They will likely include connected tools, using information ranging from location to accelerometer data to understand where and how they are being used, to guide workers accordingly. 5G’s high capacity, wireless flexibility and low-latency performance make it a natural choice to support manufacturers in these environments. It promises to help them meet several challenges.

Gathering data

The first of these challenges involves gathering operational intelligence. As networks grow and become smarter, they will produce far more information than their predecessors. Manufacturers that can capture and crunch this information could produce actionable intelligence that increases productivity. 5G’s low latency and high-bandwidth capabilities can support this increasing data flow. Aside from increasing throughput, analyzed data can also help reduce downtime. 5G-connected sensors can channel real-time information about equipment performance, ranging from vibration to noise data. Combined with machine learning algorithms, this data can help companies predict when expensive equipment is about to fail, reducing the likelihood of expensive downtime. When the network gives us advanced warning that a piece of specialized equipment needs a repair, augmented reality using low-latency 5G-enabled headsets will make technicians more efficient. Level 1 technicians can travel to a site and have engineers at headquarters guide them through the repair process remotely via 5G networks, using context-sensitive 3D animations to walk them through the necessary steps.

New capabilities at the network edge

Finally, 5G will enable manufacturers to drive more functionality closer to the edge of the network. Because this network technology’s reliability is so high and its latency so low, equipment can communicate wirelessly with back-end systems for time-critical operations in ways that were not possible before. For the first time, this will combine fast production-line operations with the power of networked intelligence. We can expect new capabilities such as advanced visual recognition using the power of deep learning neural networks in the cloud. This will allow robotic systems to visually inspect products for quality control purposes in real time, with a high degree of accuracy.

How 5G Will Power the Smart Factory of the Future – Click Here For Further Reading

3. Retail Industry

Most people think 5G technology is only related to the telecom industry. However, the 5G wireless network will affect more than cell phone coverage. As this next-generation network gains traction, it will have far-reaching effects for many industries, including retail.

According to a recent Ericsson report, five years from now 65 percent of the global population will be covered by 5G, with networks generating nearly half of all mobile data traffic. As 5G wireless becomes more commonplace, it will have an impact on the retail industry — in ways retailers might not yet expect. Shopping looks a lot different now than it did a year ago. Many of you placed your recent grocery order online or chose to buy online, pick up at the curb (BOPAC). During the holidays, many retailers used BOPAC to keep sales strong.

While 5G in retail will improve online shopping, it’s also going to have a dramatic impact on in-person shopping. With 5G, faster networks allow for real-time data tracking of customer product preferences and shopping habits in stores. This data gives retailers the opportunity to create a more personalized customer experience, such as targeting emails about the deals that will matter to them most.

5G will also usher in new mixed-mode shopping experiences. For example, a customer begins by shopping online. After filling their shopping cart, the retailer guides them to a brick-and-mortar location. Retailers then direct the customer to the exact aisle and shelf to find the product.

Technology like smart shelves and smart fitting rooms ensure BOPAC inventory is accurate. Companies like North Face, Sephora, and Lowes have even introduced smart robots in stores to help consumers find products, check inventory, and assist with product delivery. These elements work together to allow associates to spend more time delivering exceptional customer care.

Augmented and virtual reality will also bridge the online and offline. Furniture retailer IKEA recently updated its augmented reality (AR) application, IKEA Place, to allow users to place multiple pieces of furniture in a room virtually before making a purchase. The app also allows a user to point their smartphone camera at a piece of furniture to search IKEA’s database for a similar-looking product.

Further Reading – 5 Unexpected Ways 5G Will Change Retail

4. The Entertainment Industry

Hollywood and high tech go together like Keanu Reeves and “Whoa.” Rogers and Astaire. Key and Peele.

Over the last century, if there has been a technological advance that could make filmmaking more immersive, then movie makers have jumped in with both feet. Think about 3-D movie-making. It’s generally associated with the monster flicks of the 1950s and more recent computer-generated imagery, but the basic technology has been around since the 1920s. Whether it’s better audio, wider screens, amazing digital effects, higher frame rates or HDR, commercial filmmakers have never been shy about introducing and playing with the latest tech.

And next up — 5G technology. If you are scratching your head on how wireless technology can transform the entertainment industry, let me see if I can help write the script for what might seem like a science fiction adventure. First, it helps to understand how 5G will be significantly different from any other mobile technology that has been rolled out to date. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how the entertainment industry could take advantage of 5G.

Faster speeds mean faster access to content.

The advantages of 5G’s fast speeds provide a higher capacity for production. Traditionally, directors would view their “dailies” (i.e., raw unedited footage) the day after they were shot on film. It took time to process the film and sync the sound. That changed with the introduction of digital equipment. But 5G can further improve that process. The super-fast speeds of the network could allow filmmakers to transfer massive amounts of video to their editors extremely quickly — and not be bound by wireline connections.

Combining 5G with mixed reality will put viewers in the movie.

5G’s ultra-fast speeds and lower latency, when combined with augmented or virtual reality, hold a host of new possibilities for the entertainment industry. Already, companies are experimenting with putting viewers in the middle of the action of a movie.

In this use case, viewers wear virtual reality headsets and then find themselves as characters in the movie. They could walk around a scene and interact with other characters. For a generation brought up on a third-person perspective and open-world video games, this would be a completely natural experience.

And because processing times will be faster and latency will be reduced through a combination of 5G and edge computing, the issue that some viewers currently experience with nausea while watching AR/VR would be minimized.

It’s time to ‘feel’ the action.

I believe the interaction between film and viewer could be even further enhanced through the use of haptic vests, which — as many gamers already know — allow you to feel the action, including touch and vibration.

Some cinemas today already have their seats synchronized with the action on the screen, to immerse the viewer into the story. Imagine viewers wearing haptic vests, which would allow them to experience everything from a gentle hug to a (toned down and safe) fight sequence. 5G could make this possible by providing a wireless connection to the vest — no awkward wires tethering that vest to your seat. After all, you still need to get up to grab some popcorn sometimes.

Lights, Camera, 5G: Transforming The Entertainment Industry With 5G – Click Here for further reading

5. Accelerating Cloud Computing

5G will bring a massive change to cloud computing. Much of the discussion at the Mobile World Congress, organized in February 2020, was about the upcoming fifth generation (5G) technology. 5G is expected to revolutionise the network and communications industry by providing ultra-fast transmission rates that can be as much as 100 times faster than the existing 4G.

A number of industries will benefit from what 5G has to offer. From the healthcare industry to the automotive industry, from smart homes to smart cities and beyond, 5G’s features change the landscape, allowing for several applications that 4G just couldn’t handle. With the increase in potential industries, both tech- and non-tech related, there will be an increased need for cloud services. For example, wearable devices that lack enough internal storage, usually relying on synced larger devices such as smartphones, will be able to function independently with the aid of the cloud via 5G’s low to zero latency.

The communication potential opens doors to several avenues for businesses. For example, IBM and Vodafone recently inked a B2B (Business-to-Business) deal aimed at cloud hosting, along with another part providing solutions in a number of areas including IoT, Artificial Intelligence, and other 5G-beneficial applications. In essence, for cloud dependent industries and cloud industries themselves, 5G is a welcome force. The fifth generation technology will accelerate cloud business investment through its widespread application to a number of innovations.

Impact of 5G on other technology innovations

The combination of 5G and cloud technologies will enrich the capacity, functionality, and flexibility of a number of industries, especially for cloud businesses themselves. This combination will allow network carriers to offer competitive services in a way non-cellular IoT (Internet of Things) network providers will be unable to copy. These innovations will introduce several investment opportunities for cloud businesses. Here is how 5G’s improvement of cloud technologies will benefit some innovations.

Streaming data and analytics: The existing Big Data processing technology uses cloud infrastructure to support the required storage. However, to stream analytics on Big Data, systems still face major challenges related to latency with current wireless networks. As 5G networks are touted to be surprisingly fast, real-time streaming challenges will be minimized greatly.

Industrial IoT (IIoT): In industrial use cases, such as supply chain management and process manufacturing, processing and analyzing the massive amount of sensor data in real-time is crucial for valuable insights to manage cost and efficiency. 5G has the potential to reduce the cost of Big Data analysis and make it even more effective given the remote and variable nature of these workloads.

Edge computing: 5G hugely impacts the performance of mobile and remote devices. Remote systems such as location tracking apps, home automation systems, and voice assistants, which are based on sensors, will use 5G to transfer a huge amount of data ten times faster than 4G networks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP): As more and more enterprises are using AI and NLP, they would require the ability to process and manage huge data. Most cloud computing service providers have the necessary computers and storage but need to improve their real-time data ingestion capabilities. 5G will provide the required level of data transmission for AI- and NLP-based apps to work effectively.

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR): 5G will dramatically enhance the quality of VR and AR applications, bringing innovations in industries such as retail, travel, healthcare, etc.

How 5G Will Accelerate Cloud Business Investment – Click Here for Further Reading

Conclusion

Even before the first network was deployed, expectations of 5G were exceptionally high, with analysts predicting that it will be the next driver of global economic growth, enabling significant future value creation across multiple sectors. 5G’s real value will be based upon enablement of emerging applications rather than on faster handsets, and this article has considered how 5G’s capabilities are enabling a sample of these current applications. We are clearly only at the beginning of a long road with 5G, but the pace of innovation can only be expected to accelerate as operators embrace the full opportunities offered by investing in fully functional 5G networks.