5G is coming. It’s not a thought anymore — it’s well on its way. In 2019, we will expect Verizon and AT&T to launch 5G networks, while South Korea has already unrolled a 5G pilot network for enterprise clients (full rollout expected in March).
On the hardware side, Qualcomm and Samsung have both announced 5G-ready products, with Apple waiting until 2020 so all the kinks can get figured out
So today, we are getting to do a deep dive into what 5G is, why it’s important, what it means at a technical level, and the way users and corporations hope to leverage it.
A quick trip down mobile generation lane
Mobile phone networks are measured in generations, or “G’s”. Since this technique started, we’ve had seven generations: 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, and now 5.
Now for a few rapid-fire history.
1979: Japan launches the primary automated cellular network (read — the primary real cell network with towers and everything). this is often 1G.
1991: 2G launches in Finland. This was the primary digital cell network, fully encrypted, capable of carrying data more efficiently, and it let different data be sent over the network (e.g. text messages).
1998: 3G is introduced. This is often essentially an upgrade of the 2G network. To be called 3G, network providers need to meet speed standards of 0.2 Mbits/second. This is often also the generation that began to standardize the underlying infrastructure for the fashionable internet. 3G provided speeds that were fast and reliable enough for technology like video conferencing and streaming video to be a reality(ish) for the primary time.
2008: 3.5G is introduced. It’s faster than 3G, with better speed and capacity. The timing here is critical — remember that the primary iPhone, which is usually what people consider the beginning of Web 2.0, was unveiled in 2007. 3.5G is the underlying infrastructure that made the iPhone a runaway success by making it possible for users to try to do things on a smartphone that previously could only be done on a computer connected with a coaxial cable .
2009-2013: 4G is introduced (sort of). 3.5 and 4G tend to blend together, but technically, 2009 saw the release of a network branded “4G”. 4G networks technically require up to 1GB per second, but that wasn’t a reality until ~2013 with 4G LTE (or 4.5G). For reference, this is often the speed and reliability needed for streaming HDTV, online gaming, 3D TV, and for video conferencing that really works.
So that’s the evolution of mobile generations.
Generally speaking, a replacement generation is introduced every 10 years approximately . It’s also important to recollect what separates the generations. It’s not just faster speed, but a fundamental shift in how the technology is delivered.
What is 5G technology?
The technical specs of 5G are still to be released (March 2019) and won’t be submitted to the ITU (the organization who defines the generations officially) until 2020.
That said, 5G networks are being designed to target:
“high rate, reduced latency, energy saving, cost reduction, higher system capacity, and large device connectivity.”
Basically, it means cell networks are going to be enormously faster (up to 10GB, up from 3GB with 4G LTE), with lower latency (down to 1 millisecond) and capable of transmitting much more data directly (e.g. with many different users). It also usually means:
- 90% reduced energy usage
- Capable of carrying 100 times more devices
- 100% coverage.
It’s a touch bit like upgrading the road network. 4 and 4.5G networks are like two-lane highways. They’re good at moving cars, but it’s easy for them to be protected from traffic.
5G is like an 8-lane expressway, capable of moving much more cars, far faster, than even multiple highways.
The core difference between 5G and other generations is that other generations have used longer, larger frequencies, whereas 5G is planning on using much higher frequencies (called millimetre frequencies).
The advantage of high frequencies is that they’re , as noted, an entire lot faster with enormous capacity.
However, there are good reasons they haven’t been used before.
High frequencies tend to be blocked by things like buildings or are susceptible to flaming out when the weather packs in. They also don’t travel as far, meaning they have to ping a tower more often.
In order for higher frequencies to figure, you would need dozens or many essentially tiny cell towers, mounted on things like telephone poles or rooftops.
Until recently, there wasn’t an enormous demand for this. But as we’ll see, there are a variety of specific use cases driving the adoption of widespread, high-speed, low latency networks that successively is driving the adoption of 5G.
5G technology also comes equipped with other technical innovations, specifically something called network slicing. this is often once you can segment a network, same as when a multi-tenant host segments a server into different clients.
It allows one mobile network to be utilized in many alternative ways. As an example, a self-driving car could be segmented to a higher-calibre section of the network, and something sort of a smart toaster segmented to a really low-calibre section.
5G use cases
While having the ability to stream on to your phone the newest episode Silicon Valley is vital , that’s not usually the utilization case people mention with 5G.
There are five specific use cases where we see (a) 5G making a large impact and (b) that are unable or unlikely to happen on existing 4G networks.
1.IoT / smart cities
The internet of things (IoT) is starting to become a reality, except for it to actually begin it needs 5G.
First, the sheer amount of knowledge that a real “internet of things” generates is staggering, and immediately the prevailing networks aren’t robust enough to urge the info where it must go. Some companies are becoming aware of the problem with edge computing, which can help ease the burden of sending data back to a central location to truly do anything with it.
This will only go so far. Eventually, for the IoT to actually begin, it’s going to need a network which will carry the vast amount of knowledge that devices collect and carry either data or data analysis where it must go.
And the same goes for smart cities — while Google’s Sidewalk Labs is starting to kick things off, for smart cities to figure effectively, we’d like to be ready to move tons more data, tons faster, than we will immediately .
Smart cities and IoT devices also will generate an enormous number of devices that need super long battery life. And since battery technology is (for now) relatively stagnant, 5G is one solution because it’s far more efficient, requiring about 90% less battery power.
- Medical device technology
Of course, technology is already getting used in healthcare, both from a consumer tracking perspective (think Apple’s Health App) and by doctors (think iPads in emergency rooms).
However, healthcare remains an industry where being there face to face remains the first method of care. That is, you continue to need to attend a hospital, whereas you don’t need to attend a store.
There is no healthcare on Amazon.
That becomes less of a limitation with the low latency 5G promises. A bit like 4G provided video conferencing and enabled remote teams, 5G will enable telemedicine to become much more commonplace. For instance, a specialist could remote into a rural practice to supply their expertise during a patient consultation.
Combined with AR / VR technology (more thereon during a minute), the likelihood of the doctor remotely doing the examination herself increases significantly. The “final frontier” of remote medicine, surgery, is even on the table as an opportunity , bringing top-tier surgical care to many more people.
Finally, with 5G, we will expect to ascertain an equivalent massive data needs that IoT demands as doctors, not only track more aggressively (and digitally) but as new technology like smart pills adds to the quantity of knowledge generated.
- Autonomous cars
Autonomous cars are currently within the works, with one fatality already but we’re getting to need a 5G network to realize the dream of truly self-driving vehicles.
Specifically, we’d like to lower latency promised by 5G networks, plus the dense network coverage, to direct and control autonomous cars, feed them the info they have to still improve, and usually make them a reality.
And, of course, a bit like the IoT and hospitals, a fleet of self-driving cars is actually a huge pile of knowledge waiting to be sent, analysed, and processed, again requiring the big capacity of 5G.
- remote machinery
Remember Avatar, when huge mining equipment is driven from a headquarters , with all machines being operated remotely?
Well, that’s not really possible immediately . But with a 5G network with < 1-millisecond latency means it’d be within the future.
And since heavy industrial machinery like mining, logging, container ships, oil platforms, and more all tend to be located in the way and dangerous work environments, 5G could enormously reduce the necessity for on-site users.
What’s more, with strictly remote workers, increased use of automation, and better robotics, the likelihood of mining even more remote locations (e.g. the ocean floor, or in space) becomes more likely.
- Widely adopted VR
Finally, VR and AR. Computer games and Augmented Reality are both staples of fantasy , but both are currently struggling to seek out an edge within the mainstream. While a number of this is often a challenge of the technology itself, a part of the limitation is what you are doing with it — that’s , connected functionality is currently difficult thanks to the big broadband needs of a VR experience.
So for VR and AR to be used both for fun (e.g. massive multiple online games, MMOs), and for business (e.g. remote operating rooms), we’d like to be ready to move much more data, with lower latency and more reliability than we will on 4G networks. For that functionality, 5G could be the answer.
The challenge of 5G networks
5G networks aren’t easy to create . While the idea is fairly straightforward — higher frequencies are less crowded and carry more data — the truth of that’s extremely challenging. That’s a part of the rationale we went through six generations of relatively large, low-frequency cell networks — low frequencies are tons easier to figure with.
So the significant challenges to 5G are the elemental limitation of high-frequency networks:
- They don’t go very far
- They tend to urge blocked by buildings
- They’re susceptible to falling in inclemency
The problem is that the prevailing infrastructure is usually macro-level. That is, it supported a couple of very large cell towers, usually not very centrally located. Low frequency transmissions can make the jump between towers whereas high-frequency ounces cannot.
That means two things.
First, 5G networks are being built out with a mixture of frequencies, both high and low, to a minimum to mitigate this problem. It means when possible, your phone will run on a 5G high-frequency network with all the advantages outlined above. But when it can’t, it’ll switch to a low-frequency one.
However, for tons of the 5G use cases, this isn’t an honest enough solution. For instance , a surgeon within the middle of a foreign appendix removal surgery can’t suddenly get lag spikes because it moves from high to low.
Which is why carriers are building out a huge network of micro-level cell towers — smaller towers that are much closer together. However, this work is dear and time-consuming, meaning 5G requires significant up-front capital.
These smaller towers also solve the matter of being blocked by buildings and failing in inclemency , but a very “coast to coast” 5G network may be a great distance off.
What we expect to happen is that 5G networks start in cities before expanding slowly into more and more rural areas.
Conclusion
5G isn’t a pipedream. The thought of a network that is 200 times faster, with latency so low that cars can communicate as a billboard hoc network to avoid crashing, and capable of carrying the vast data requirements of IoT devices will soon be here.
Not only is that the timing right, but the demand for this technology has reached some extent that it’s worth network providers’ time and money to take a position within the required hardware to make it happen.
In the US, Korea, China, the UK, and a few Scandinavian countries, 5G are often expected to happen sooner instead of later. And for the remainder of the planet , it’ll happen eventually.
Of course, there’ll always be an area for low-frequency networks. However, over time, we will expect to ascertain more and more switch to 5G as both business requirements and consumer needs bow to the inevitable march of progress.
