5G Super Speed to Power Internet of Things!

At the just concluded mobile world congress, 5G corned prime space, and speed was everywhere. Even there was Formula 1 use case and key-note by the speed machine Fernando Alonso. 5G promises speed for IoT!

Good news is, 5G is closer to becoming a reality. Carriers have announced the deployment plans and there were several use cases already in pilot mode.

What is 5G? Why is it being perceived as next generation connectivity solution for digital transformation?

5G is the upcoming fifth-generation wireless broadband technology based on the IEEE802.11ac standard.

According to the Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) to qualify for a 5G, a connection should meet most of these eight criteria:

1. One to 10Gbps connections to end points in the field
2. One millisecond end-to-end round trip delay 
3. 1000x bandwidth per unit area
4. 10 to 100x number of connected devices
5.  (Perception of) 99.999 percent availability
6.  (Perception of) 100 percent coverage
7.  90 percent reduction in network energy usage
8.  Up to ten-year battery life for low power, machine-type devices

5G promises high data capacity, low latency, reliability and low cost.

This is probably first time technology is trying to future proof scale – devices, data, bandwidth and latency. Remember the time, when IPhone was first rolled out with exclusive rights on a specific carrier network. The unprecedented data deluge, had forced the carrier to scramble for capacity and announce huge investment to augment the data handling capacity. Since then, telecom industry has seen an exponential expansion of bandwidth capacity.

5G dramatically improves both latency and data rates. It can cut response time down to 1-2 milliseconds (0.001 or 0.002 seconds) from 4G’s average 50 ms (0.05 seconds). Similarly, it can increase the data rate from 4G’s average 0.02-0.03 gigabits per second to between 0.1-5.0 Gbps. 

This means connectivity is ahead of the game, for the first time. It was always, application or use case emerges then we will go back and tweak the connectivity requirements, or live with reduced user experience until technology supports it. While 5G takes care much needed speed for the already rolled out applications like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, but also removes one of the major constraints (optimal connectivity) for business problem solving, new use case development etc.

Now let us see how 5G impacts IoT.

5G uses millimeter frequency, high frequency spectrum (30 and 300 GHz). It requires small cells, portable miniature base stations. This means the first set of use cases will be in industrial settings for Machine-to-Machine communication, micro segmentation, edge computing etc.

If you go deeper in the IoT world, you will find many connectivity options. It is all driven by the fact that IoT device standards continue to evolve, but use cases are fast emerging to outpace standardization attempts. The current connectivity solutions are like city streets, 5G promises speedway for IoT.

For example, the promise of high bandwidth and low latency of 5G is a game changer for remote and hazardous working environments. In disaster situations, amount of environmental data collected and sent to the control center, for analysis and decision making, within milliseconds makes a huge difference between life and death. 5G enables data collection much larger scale with high density configuration, and with low latency high bandwidth upstream connectivity to cloud, analytical engine, control center etc.

Edge Computing – having intelligence and decision making closer to the source of data is critical for certain mission critical and secure use cases. 5G enables IoT by providing a quick, reliable and low latency connection to the IoT devices to the edge. At the same time can supplement the broadband connection between the edge and the cloud, for deeper analytical capability.

Edge-less computing – 5G technology can further proliferate edge-less computing, with the help of miniature base stations or smaller cells, the data can be collected and transported to central location (cloud or datacenter) for analysis and action. The low latency characteristics of 5G will come in handy here. Imagine a situation of firefighter with 5G enabled wearables entering fire ravaged city building, with limited visibility. The wearables now can send data in real time and receive instructions in real time from the command center armed with real time building map and even with the aid of Virtual Reality (VR).

SD-WAN transport to the edge - 5G promises to bring the reliability, low latency, scalability, security and high bandwidth to the devices. These characteristics of 5G combines the traditional reliability and low latency of MPLS with that of scalability, high bandwidth and low costs of broadband. This will further strengthen SD-WAN adoption, and IoT implementations will benefit from this convergence.

Smart city initiatives - we are already imagining a future with driverless cars and intelligent roadways. This requires thousands of sensors (mobile and fixed), and every lamppost needs a fiber connected to transport the data. This is not an exaggeration. 5G helps here as well. Each lamppost can now carry a small cell for 5G coverage, and acts as data transport for all the sensors around it.

Like all technology transformations in the past, this technology also will have to pass through several hurdles before it becomes mainstream. With the increased number of cells needed due to the high frequency spectrum, Telecom industry needs to work out new deployment models. Expanding beyond mobile devices to IoT space (industrial, supply chain, healthcare etc.) requires clearly defined blueprint, road-map and compliance with regulatory requirements. Also how security is handled within 5G space is not clearly defined yet. In the coming days there will be accelerated discussions happening in this space. Though 5G is an evolution of the existing cellular technologies, it is leapfrog from all aspects. 

With the perceived value 5G brings into IoT space, companies should consider 5G also as a future connectivity option in their digital transformation blue print and use case development. With the all-round endorsement seen recently from the industry, scientific institutions, government and end users, there will be increased focus, this technology will soon become mainstream, and there will be new business models emerging out of this integration. Let us be ready.