5 Important Things You Need to Know About 5G

The Secure 5G and Beyond Act of 2020 that was recently signed into law will enable us to work more efficiently from home to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, speed up recovery, and to extend our communications infrastructure.

While 5G indeed has great potential to improve our lives, however, it is not a one size fits all solution. It is essential for us to fully understand its benefits and limitations to make optimal use of this technology.

Here are five important things to know:

5G Isn’t Just About Faster Speed

5G mobile technologies, some of which will augment current 4G technologies, will enable ISPs to deliver gigabit speeds wirelessly.  It will connect many more devices, reduce latency (data transmission delay), and optimize battery life. All of these are crucial to deploying any avant-garde internet of things (IoT) solutions or machine-to-machine (M2M) communications.

5G will make ultra-high definition video streaming accessible to all and enable the safe (and widespread) use of self-driving cars. Applications that require real-time intelligence will no longer be a distant reality.

5G Will Come in Several Flavors

Network slicing will allow wireless resources to be partitioned to serve different applications.

Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB):  Factors such as high image resolution and short buffering time take priority over latency in these applications.

Examples are in-vehicle entertainment, virtual and augmented reality, and video surveillance.

Massive machine-type communications (mMTC): In these applications, the ability to integrate many devices takes precedence over high data transmission rates and small delays. Additionally, in some applications, like monitoring medical devices embedded in a patient’s body or collecting data from agricultural fields, optimizing battery life is important.

Examples of this are energy metering, vehicle tracking, and data collection for preventive maintenance

Ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (uRLLC): These latency-sensitive applications rely on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication to run smoothly. The smallest delay in data transmission could result in accidents (death or severe injuries), property damage, and other undesirable consequences.

Examples of this are in autonomous driving and remote drone piloting.

Aside from these scenarios, applications like online gaming or robot-assisted remote surgery will require a more customized approach.

5G Will Coexist with Other Communication Technologies

5G will not replace other communication protocols such as Ethernet and Wi-Fi once it becomes prevalent. It will exist side-by-side with these existing protocols, along with other newer and lesser-known protocols. In fact, in locations with dense Wi-Fi coverage and a dedicated, high-bandwidth internet connection, you can expect 5G to play a minor role – seeing as the best-use cases for 5G are those that require connectivity over expansive areas or where connectivity isn’t feasible using other alternatives.

5G Achieves Wide Coverage with Small Cells

The traditional approach to deploying cellular networks will not be enough for 5G. A higher frequency means smaller coverage and increased susceptibility to attenuation caused by terrain, foliage, and construction materials.

For uninterrupted coverage and signal penetration inside buildings in urban areas, a heterogeneous approach to infrastructure deployment including macrocells and a multitude of small cells, or microcells will have to be adopted.

5G Solutions Will Require Both Centralized and Edge Processing

The hub-and-spoke model followed today by 5G solutions will have to evolve as more and more processing capability is pushed towards the network edges. The data collected will be processed a lot closer to IoT devices – minimizing the response time in real-time automated actions.