A data transmission speed 1,000 times higher than that of the LTE network? This is what awaits us with the future standard of 5G mobile phone technology. This fifth generation will be the technological base of the developments of the Internet of Things, with automated vehicles, houses connected to smart cities … 5G technology is full of potential.
To begin with, 5G technology promises to be up to 100 times faster than current wireless systems. Although current devices do not have enough capacity to support it, it should be noted that this technology will not begin to arrive until 2018, with Japan, South Korea and North America being probably the first to adopt this 5G technology.
But what will 5G networks allow us to do?
In addition to increasing speed, 5G networks will offer lower latency, greater reliability, better connectivity from more places ; also greater capacity, allowing more users and more devices to be connected at the same time. The resulting infrastructure will make the IoT (internet of things) scalable, with more than 20.8 billion “things” – including buildings, cars, machines, and appliances – expected to be connected to the network for the time when 5G debuts globally in 2020, up from 4.9 billion in 2015.
With the 5G network we can download a movie to our smartphone in less than three seconds; our car will be able to detect and navigate automatically avoiding obstacles on the road; physicians will be able to perform complex surgical procedures using robots remotely; cities will be able to collect ubiquitous real-time information on traffic, weather and crime …
5G networks will allow devices to connect with each other directly, with more efficient communication and therefore with less battery power consumption.
For Internet of Things devices, for example, the superior speed and performance of 5G networks will unlock much-requested features such as voice commands, facial recognition, real-time video and image processing, and interfaces based on gestures.
Thus, in 10 years, robotic taxis will be part of the usual scene on many streets in large cities.
