Mobile World Congress is host to state-of-the-art smartphone presentations, future plans from major telecommunications companies, and new technologies that are ubiquitous in our routine. However, the theme that most insisted on appearing in Barcelona in 2016 was 5G:
A single glance to the side was enough to find some booth with the term 5G flashing in my face.
And that’s odd if you think 4G is still crawling in coverage in much of the world, 5G doesn’t even have a set standard, and the first commercial fifth generation mobile networks should only show up by 2020. Only all the big tech companies are eyeing 5G – not just Ericsson, Qualcomm or Telefonica, which have obvious interest in the telecommunications market, but also companies like Intel. Why?
The big news of 5G networks is that they work at higher frequencies, that is, where electromagnetic waves oscillate more times per second. Thanks to this, the 5G promises three advantages: more speed, more connections and lower latency.
“The connection can perfectly reach 20 or 30 gigabits per second,” says Vinicius Dalbem, Ericsson’s vice president of strategy. It would be enough to download an entire movie in Ultra HD (4K) resolution in three seconds. In practice, the speed will be slower: 10 gigabits per second (or less, depending on what each carrier decides). Anyway, 5G will be much faster than current 4G networks. This is great, but not the most important.
You may have heard of the so-called “internet of things,” which will connect every day object – from your home refrigerator to street lamps. This sounds a little silly today, but it will eventually transform the world. When every car has its own internet connection, for example, it can automatically communicate with other vehicles, traffic lights and cell phones in people’s pockets. And then, instead of using sensors and radars to try to see obstacles and react to them, as it does today, autonomous vehicles will know the actual positions of all things.
What changes about 4G?
The next generation should bring some changes compared to 4G. Improvements are technical, but important. Research in the area aims to reach three levels.
Higher Speed: In theory, the 4G network can reach speeds of one gigabit per second — not that you get close to that when using the connection on your mobile phone. With 5G, the goal is to reach a maximum speed ten times higher, reaching 10 Gbps.
Lower Latency: Latency is the time required between pacing and actual network operation. The goal is to achieve just 1 millisecond latency with 5G — the 4G network has 50 millisecond latency.
Increased efficiency: Research aims to achieve a higher level of energy efficiency. This is important within the idea of internet of things. Battery objects cannot be replaced or recharged frequently in some cases. Apparently the network will be 90% more efficient than 4G.
What will 5G make possible?
In addition to enabling high-speed network browsing with high quality video (even 4K resolution) loading almost instantly, the 5G network brings other important changes.
It will make the internet of things possible. The arrival of connected devices will create demand for high capacity networking. The 5G is estimated to allow 7 trillion devices to be connected; so every person in the world can have 1,000 objects connected.
From here we will see major innovations over the next few years. With the internet of things we will see news such as connected cars (and even autonomous) and smart homes.
Urban environments are expected to change significantly over the next decade. Connected solutions will help with traffic analysis, water supply, and countless other possibilities.
Broadly speaking, the 5G network will bring innovations far beyond telecommunications. “Connecting people, machines and things on a massive scale facilitates the delivery of personalized healthcare, optimizes transportation and logistics, improves access to culture and education and perhaps revolutionizes public services,” the European Union wrote in a paper on the subject.
The 5G would be available not only for smartphones and tablets, but also for cars, hospitals, homes, among others.
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