Thursday, March 1, 2018

Future 5G technologies showcased

©Mark Ollig


Located in the autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain, Barcelona played host for the 2018 Mobile World Conference (MWC).

MWC was full of excitement and anticipation regarding 5G; the mobile cellular network we will be using in our cellphones and smart devices in 2020.

We are still over a year-and-a-half away from the official 5G cellular mobile technology industry standard to become available, and events such as the MWC are already eagerly showcasing it.

Industry network specifications for international mobile telecommunications (IMT) are established by the technical standards-setting International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a branch of the United Nations, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.

The current and most commonly used cellular technology is called fourth-generation long-term-evolution (4G LTE), which many of us use with our smartphones.

4G LTE has been available since 2010.

On average, it’s about every 10 years before the next generation of cellular technology is released.

We are about to turn the page forward into the next chapter of wireless mobile cellular networking technology.

5G will be used for not only smartphones, but for the IoT (Internet of Things) devices and particular services IoT provide.

IoT incorporates intelligent components within its electronic sensors.

IoT smart sensors are attached to, and gather information from a wide variety of everyday-used electronic devices. These “devices” then become part of the “things” connected to the Internet.

“If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things; using data they gathered without any help from us, we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss, and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing, or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best,” stated a well-worded explanation for the benefits of using IoT from Techopedia, a website founded by Dale and Cory Janssen.

IoT will be extensively using 5G’s ultra-broadband-like network and will fill in the data bandwidth and speed gap limitations of the current 4G network.

5G will reportedly be up to 40 times faster than 4G under optimal operating conditions.

Everything we use our 4G smartphones for, from downloading web pages and video, messaging, running apps, and tethering to other devices, will happen at blazingly-fast speeds using 5G.

Radio frequency bands above the 24 GHz radio spectrum will be used for 5G.

KT Corporation, South Korea’s primary telecommunications provider, showcased their 5G technology during the recent Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The KT 5G network used 22 high-speed, fiber-optic data links connecting 10 separate locations. Its pre-industry standard 5G network operated in the 28 GHz radio spectrum.

Samsung and Ericsson were two of the equipment vendors assisting KT with its 5G network demonstration, by equipping test smartphones and tablet devices for 5G services.

I was surprised to learn one Samsung tablet device recorded peak data transfer speeds of up to 3.5 Gbps (Gigabits per second). This is incredible speed for a smart device, and gives all of us a look at what the very near future speeds using 5G will be.

Technology from Intel Corporation, including its FlexRAN and Mobile Edge Computing systems, was also a part of KT’s 5G network demonstration.

KT demonstrated how 5G would be used in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, IoT, and immersive media services; such as virtual reality and augmented reality.

5G networks will be used during sports events, virtually-attended concerts and meetings, directing autonomous smart transportation and factories, remote-assisted health care services, and much more.

During the Winter Olympics, KT’s 5G network handled 3.8 PB (Petabytes) of data, which is equal to 3,800 TB (Terabytes), or 3,800,000 GB (Gigabytes).

If you watched the Winter Olympics, you would recall the memorable opening and closing ceremonies, where 300 drones were flying in perfect formation high above the stadium crowd.

The drones were linked and operated using KT’s 5G network.

Right now, the tech industry is centered on 5G; businesses, our local city communities, along with you and I, should look forward to exciting things happening when 5G hits the airwaves in 2020.

Hurry 5G; there are 50 billion IoT devices, smartphones, and virtual devices anxiously waiting to be connected to your network.





















(Clipart Of LLC. Royalty user-fee paid for by Mark Ollig)