5G Services Leading an Era of Innovation

Over the years, the need to maintain permanent and faster connections has caused the creation of new technologies, this being the case of 5G, known as the latest generation. Several years ago, we left behind the 1G network, which brought the first mobile phones that allowed us to communicate over long distances. With 2G technology, text messages and their sending were introduced. After this, and with the innovation of the networks came the smartphone and the third generation (3G). With the need to improve the long-distance communication experience came the fourth generation (4G) that allowed us to make video calls in real-time. In some cases, it is credited with introducing augmented reality. Finally, and currently, a new generation was proposed, the fifth (5G), which has as its main objective to improve speeds for all existing services, it is mentioned that it will be possible to navigate at speeds of up to 10 Gbps, this being 10 times faster than speeds currently offered by ISPs over fiber optics. With the speed cup comes a reduction of up to 5 milliseconds in latency, giving us, as users, the perception of connections in real-time.

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The global transition to 5G services is already a reality and is happening at the moment. With this, many benefits are expected in all commercial sectors and, of course, a great step in the field of telecommunications. The pioneering upgrade to 5G brings sizable channels, lower latency, and increased connectivity for the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, exponentially multiplying the number of simultaneously connected devices on the network.

The deployment of 5G will directly affect many environments and places, means of transport, sports centers, where usually lower speeds cause bandwidth bottlenecks. Most significantly, 5G will provide needed assistance with critical healthcare communications, bring increased bandwidth to homes, enable the safe use of unmanned aerial vehicles, facilitate the establishment of non-terrestrial networks (NTNs), and enhance reality applications. Virtual and artificial, it will be possible to connect to any electronic device that we have at home or office and share information in real-time.

Now, a brief look at the different environments that will be affected (improved) with the inclusion of 5G technologies:

Telecommunications improvement

The use of 5G technologies allows ISPs to offer high-speed broadband access with capacities up to 100 times greater than those offered by 4G, making FWA even more profitable and efficient than traditional fixed network services.

The increased push from FWA results in better network performance and lower costs. However, the capacity requirements will be tied to the end-user requirements. With the larger 5G spectrum, many countries create national broadband plans to connect rural customers, allowing them to broaden the range of end-users and broader communications networks.

Within this communications field and its advances thanks to 5G, we also have innovative advances in the space industry. The launch of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites and high altitude platform systems (HAPS) are part of these advances that will allow the establishment of non-terrestrial networks (NTN). The main objective of these networks is to improve rural and remote connectivity and would be oriented to the agriculture, transportation, public security and disaster recovery sectors.

Companies like SpaceX are actively launching massive amounts of miniature satellites to carry additional bandwidth to enable the full inclusion of 5G technology. Between 2020 and 2025, more than 100 satellite systems will provide greater efficiency, reliability, higher data speeds and new applications for 5G.

Augmented and Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) require the handling of massive amounts of data for an efficient result. Currently, both technologies are being used in different sectors such as medicine, education and the military. For this reason, the bandwidths must be wider and latencies much lower, so 5G plays an important role in these advances.

These advances have challenges issues of network availability and its different components, but they must also face issues of maintaining service continuity and managing energy consumption in new devices.

Technology Advances

Among all the benefits that 5G brings to technology in general, it should be noted that the medical industry also could have some benefits, for example, in robotic telesurgery.

This kind of surgery uses wireless technologies and robotic equipment that rely on network stability, low latency, and higher bandwidth. Additionally, the patient’s condition is observed through the continuous output of data from the monitoring equipment, so stability and real-time monitoring play an important role. In this environment, 5G ensures stable data transmission without data loss, giving the surgeon the option of having complete control of the equipment and patient.

Using IoT technology, it is possible to perform this task to monitor the patient’s health status. Some companies are already monitoring their patients when they are transported by ambulance or at home. All this is supported by portable equipment, sensors and 5G technology that offers stability in the network.

Continuing in the field of mobility, we also have important advances in the well-known unmanned vehicles.

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or drones and unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) will benefit from ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) and the speeds offered by 5G. For their part, UAVs are designed to fly greater distances and travel through various areas of the network, so the frequency range in 5G will support more of these devices without lengthy reconnection protocols. As a result, 5G connectivity avoids the risk of losing control of UAVs and collisions in the air.

These and many other fields will have to face improvements and changes caused by this new generation of technologies. However, medical studies have been carried out to understand what health implications 5G may have. Some health organizations link high exposure to RF (radio frequency) fields as a possible cause of cancer in humans. Despite this and some other controversies, it is not proven that this type of technology has side effects on health. Experts assure that 5G will bring more solutions and benefits than problems.

The deployment of 5G will continue to transform many industries and provide global Internet access to remote areas. This generation of high speeds, lower latencies and wider bandwidths will undoubtedly bring a positive global impact, generating richer digital experiences.