5G has been the ‘buzz word’ all across the recently-concluded Mobile World Congress 2019. The next generation of mobile network stole the show at the MWC 2019 with quite a few exciting developments featuring 5G as the headliner.
From Huawei’s stunning new 5G foldable to Qualcomm’s debut 5G devices that are expected to be rolled out within the next 90 days, there’re plenty of reasons why everyone is talking about 5G so excitedly. Several upcoming technologies will depend on other ‘next big’ technologies for their successful deployment. As such, most upcoming digital transformations have been passionately waiting for 5G to drive their large-scale rollout. As a result, 5G is exactly what the following ‘next big digital advancements’ have been waiting for.
Mixed Reality
Mixed reality is one of the most exciting upcoming development that will depend on 5G for its impactful and mass-scale development. We all understand that augmented reality and virtual reality can’t witness a full-throttle release until 5G becomes universally available. The reason is that for VR and AR to look like – well, the ‘reality’ – they need high-speed connectivity that can match the actual ‘reality’. They can’t operate at a slow pace, lag, or process data in less than ‘real time’.
Though we already have a handful of VR and AR apps that are working just fine today, how many of them practically offer a ‘real-world’ experience? None, really! Not even Pokemon Go!
Due to increased bandwidth and speed, 5G is all set to allow VR and AR expand and evolve at a brisk pace. At MWC 2019, Microsoft unveiled their HoloLens 2, which brings the digital and physical elements together to provide a pleasant real-time experience.
HoloLens 2 features a medley of the two worlds to facilitate improved productivity from front-line workers by placing interactive data and information right before their eyes.
Soon, in combination with 5G, users will witness mixed reality evolving fast and strong with real world, real time apps from business applications to maps, and more.
5G will be a necessary part of our lives in the future as VR and AR will pop up in our phones, cars, and on our desktops.
Autonomous Vehicles
Well, we understand there’s no novelty in discussing autonomous vehicles. We’ve been talking about them since, like – forever! But then, they are yet to jump onboard.
5G may well bring autonomous vehicles safely on roads. Why? Well, that’s down to the fact that 5G is the only tech innovation, thus far, that’s fast enough to help machines imitate human reflexes, particularly in speed-oriented environments like the ‘roads and highways’ where autonomous vehicles will operate.
No, 5G won’t be universally-available overnight. However, when it becomes seamlessly available around the world, there’ll be no stopping the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles and machines — not just trucks, but cars, airplanes, and buses as well.
Smart Cities
How much we hate using slow internet, slow apps, or any other slow technology, in general, as such? Our patience levels as a society have dropped significantly, more so with the word ‘smart cities’ being at the back of our minds every time. But then, smart cities haven’t really witnessed a complete, confident and mass-scale deployment yet.
Things thus far have been made available only in bits and patches, with just a few successful developments such as smart parking lots and streetlights.
These developments are yet to reach a level of high-speed connectivity required to make consistent, scalable improvements in our daily lives.
With a 4G network, various smart city developments generally tend to bog down under ‘too much data’, leaving you with slow internet. You won’t be impressed with that, would you?
5G is certain to change this once and for all. Cities will, ultimately, be able to connect through the Internet of Things (IoT) do almost everything from improving traffic conditions and trash pickup to preventing electric power outages and keeping public restrooms clean. 5G is, thus far, the only tech innovation that’s fast enough to allow numerous devices to connect to each other at such high speeds that the deployment of these smart city technologies will make sense.
Edge Computing
While most of us are using the cloud, tech evangelists are planning a move to the edge.
Edge computing, also known as fog computing in certain cases, facilitates data processing as close to the source as possible.
Since the information doesn’t travel as far, processing can be done at a faster pace, thence making innovations such as autonomous vehicles safer and more convenient for the users.
Cutting to the chase, for instance, if you’re using an autonomous truck and you see an accident about to take place, the last thing you’ll want is to wait for your truck to send that data up to the cloud, process it there, and then receive a response.
You rather want your truck to apply brakes automatically and instantly.
As such, the cloud, despite the numerous advantages it has on offer, simply isn’t dependable enough to “process” the amount of data the Internet of Things (IoT) will generate.
Despite its benefits, cloud computing (and multi-cloud environments in general) come with several vendors, latency, and security issues.
With 5G’s low latency and superfast data transmission speed, we can explore and successfully deploy the endless possibilities edge computing has on offer in an array of applications, from Smart Cities and Factories to manufacturing and retail environments.