Fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks are now becoming a reality after years of speculation and a large amount of hype. 5G networks use a system of cell sites, like other cellular networks, that divide their territory into sectors and send encoded data via radio waves. Whether via a wired or wireless backhaul connection, each cell site must be linked to a network backbone. 5G networks use a form of encoding that is identical to the encoding that 4 G LTE uses. However, the air interface is configured to have much lower latency and more flexibility than LTE. Therefore, 5G radio system can get about 30 percent better speeds thanks the more efficient encoding (Staff, 2019).
This opens up many possibilities for future applications. An example area where this technology can help is autonomous driving. For driverless cars to become completely autonomous and in order to prevent collisions and reduce congestion, they would need to interact with the cars around them. Thanks to new speeds and lower latency it is possible to assure better reliability.Further, 5G networks would also allow telesurgery, where experts hundreds of miles away in one hospital monitor devices in another building. A recent example shows that this reality is closer than we think. A surgeon in China successfully removed part of the liver of a pig from 30 miles away using a 5 G link in early 2019. However, it took 10 years for 4G to become the main cellular technology, and the new 5G technology might take even longer. All these improvements cannot be implemented immediately. Although many big carriers are already busy building the necessary infrastructure around the world, devices capable of accessing 5G networks are just starting to appear. Therefore, it will take still some years until the new technology is fully implemented. Nevertheless, once it’s fully in place, we’ll be asking ourselves how we have ever lived without it.
What is your take on this technology?
References
https://www.vmware.com/radius/five-ways-5g-will-change-our-lives/#:~:text=Mature%205G%20networks%20will%20operate,20%20times%20faster%20than%204G
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-5784-2_27
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2019/07/14/top-10-digital-transformation-trends-for-2020/#5366b0c676be
