Nowadays, Internet of Things (IoT) leverages any available networking infrastructure and technology in order to ensure the connectivity of devices and things. For example, most IoT traffic is currently carried over WiFi networks, while the majority of smartphones in the developed world are connecting to the Internet, over mobile/wireless technologies of the third and the fourth generation (3G/4G) of mobile communications. However, these networking technologies are still incapable of supporting several IoT applications, notably applications that require very high data rates and support for real time interactions. For example, 4G is already being deployed in many countries, but is still not enough for low latency IoT applications, such as autonomous cars and smart transportation.
Networking vendors and telecommunications operators are already working on the next generation of mobile communications, i.e. the fifth generation (5G), which is promising to alleviate the above-listed limitations. 5G is the next generation mobile broadband technology, which will significantly enhance the features and capabilities of previous generations of mobile communications.
5G comes with the following revolutionary characteristics:
• It is able to handle 10,000 times more call and data traffic than existing 3G or 4G networks.
• Data download speeds on 5G networks are likely to be several hundred times more than 4G.
• It changes the means of using cell phones within very high bandwidth.
Drivers and motivation behind 5G
The motivation behind 5G is manifold and includes several factors that stem from the emergence and the rise of the IoT computing paradigm:
• First, we are witnessing an explosive growth of mobile traffic, which far exceeds the capacity foreseen in 3G & 4G. IoT is one of the main drivers behind this explosion of network traffic, as the communicating machines (i.e. M2M communications, CPS systems) contribute unprecedented amounts of traffic, which have not been taken into account in the scope of previous developments
• Second, the IoT revolution is associated with an explosion of the number of Internet connected devices, which requires new networking infrastructures that can handle their interactions. Indeed, IoT devices pose new requirements in terms of the management and efficient use of the wireless spectrum as the density of devices in any given areas will be increasing
• Third, IoT introduces new business requirements (e.g., such as connected car and self-driving car scenarios), which are associated with very low latency. As a result, there is a clear need for new networking infrastructures that provide exceptional Quality of Service (QoS) for handling such low-latency use cases
5G is therefore the way to go in order to support the rapidly proliferating IoT applications.
5G features and functionalities
In order to understand IoT scenarios where 5G can provide added-value, we herewith list some indicative use cases where 5G will provide added-value to end-users.
These include:
• The ability to browse the Internet very fast for virtually all available applications, including applications that integrate IoT data and services (e.g., energy management or environmental management applications). This is because 5G will provide very high bit rates and very low latency
• The ability of getting very good quality of service (QoS), even when accessing the Web from a very crowded place, such as a concert or a stadium. This will be empowered by 5G’s unique accessibility features for densely populated environments. It can facilitate IoT-based crowd-sourcing and crowd-sensing applications
• The ability to have a communications-intense experience (e.g., a video play-back or an immersive experience) following you. This will be empowered by 5G’s unique mobility features
• The ability to execute real time roaming applications with very high reliability. This will be made possible due to the reliability features of 5G
• The ability to ensure seamless communication between heterogeneous things that reside in different places and connect through different networks all around the globe (including for example satellite networks). This will be partly due to the exceptional coverage capabilities of 5G technology
More important IoT will leverage the enhanced reliability, the low-level latency and the spectral efficiency of 5G in the scope of device-to-device communication applications such as M2M and V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle) applications. At the same time, IoT/M2M applications will greatly benefit from massive machine communications in 5G, which will be empowered by the ability of 5G to support massive numbers of low-power devices, along with relevant low-latency data transfer between them.
5G as a unified framework for IoT
Overall, 5G will provide a unified framework for seamless connectivity across multiple IoT technologies (e.g., RFID, short-range communications, UWB, BlueTooth, etc.), which are already demanded in the scope of IoT applications. Smart cities represent a prominent example where such a unified framework is required, especially when considering the emerging integrated/unified IoT applications that interconnect multiple legacy and emerging IoT deployments. Currently, these deployments are isolated from each other (“silos”) which limits the ability to integrate them in added value applications. 5G will ease the integration of these silos, through enabling them to access network connectivity in a unified way. Likewise, IoT will be a catalyst for connected car and self-driving car applications, which are in need of ubiquitous, low-latency and real-time networked interactions.
5G is still in its early development stages, even though several telcos are already running pilots. It commercial roll-out in expected after 2020. While WiFi, 3G and 4G are empowering IoT applications, 5G is expected to help IoT to take off.
John Soldatos is an Internet of Things, Cloud Computing, JavaEE consultant; writer and published author.
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