5G is the fifth generation of mobile technology that has been promised for years. Although the first commercial networks were launched in 2019, the technology is not yet in widespread use, but what impact will it have on our lives?

The second week of January saw the CES 2020 (Consumer Technology Generation) event, a global gathering for all those who thrive in the consumer technology business.

In this version, major technology, automotive and telecommunications brands presented technological advances and innovations that aim to renew the generation of products of the third industrial revolution, such as vehicles operated under this network, 5G wireless home routers and other products (still not very real) with this technology.

Although development began in 2019 in countries such as South Korea, the United States, China, Spain and Australia, among others, there are few smartphones with this standard, as 5G has not yet reached consumers.

In February 2019 Samsung presented the first smartphone with this technology (Samsung Galaxy S10 5G), followed by Huawei, which presented its first 5G mobile phone, the Huawei Mate X, four days after the Korean giant, however, the use of these devices has not yet become widespread.

Experts say that 5G not only means faster mobile internet, but is also linked to the internet of things (IoT) and the automation of household activities.

The promise of the decade

The 5G network would allow, on a small scale, a 4K movie to be downloaded in seconds and, on a large scale, real-time data transmission to take place with no or millisecond delays, even if hundreds of GBs of data are involved.

By 2025, more than 1.2 billion 5G connections are expected globally. That would be 14% of all mobile connections, according to the GSMA, an organisation of mobile operators and related companies dedicated to supporting the standardisation, implementation and promotion of the GSM mobile phone system.

The promise is that 5G technology will enable better speeds, not only in our mobile phones and deployment of connected devices (IoT, internet of things), but in infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, tele-surgery (and health in general), industrial robots, and smart cities and homes, among others.

How will 5G revolutionise industry?

Smart cities

Smart cities will have a key enabler with the use of the fifth generation of mobile technology. This is connectivity, a concept that refers to the "connected ecosystem", which relates to mobility, energy, utilities, health and safety.

How does 5G connect to all this? By incorporating sensorised information. This means that smart cities will "make decisions" with data collected through sensors.

It is no surprise that roads, cars, buildings and public roads have sensors installed on them that monitor citizens' activity. The role of 5G in this process is that the collection time decreases considerably and allows the analysis of this data to generate an instant reaction to any behaviour or accident.

Houses 2.0

Curtains that open via an app, refrigerators with automatic inventory and locks with electronic unlocking are some of the thousands of technological examples for 21st century homes.

For this decade the promise is more ambitious, with 50 billion connected devices expected by 2030 (according to Microsoft), which is more than double the current number.

IoT, which brings together billions of connected smart devices, will get a big boost from 5G. It will also increase and improve the connectivity of smart homes.

Homes are becoming smarter and more efficient, controlled through smartphones and tablets. From basic security monitoring to appliances, lighting, curtains, irrigation, entertainment systems and more.

A new standard for the connected home is being developed this year to create a new IP connection protocol, which all manufacturers can use, and make the dream of managing all household tasks with a single finger a reality.

This is Connected Home Over IP, an initiative of Google, Amazon, Apple and the ZigBee Alliance. It is expected to be operational and available before 2021.

Autonomous cars

During the first week of January, Ford announced that it would begin implementing the V2X communications protocol in all new cars from 2022. This is a "vehicle to everything", i.e. a vehicle where all its functionalities are connected to the internet.

With regard to autonomous cars, there are also developments in V2V (vehicle to vehicle) technology, which consists of the exchange of information between two vehicles in order to improve traffic or avoid accidents.

In this line of communication between elements, it is expected to include V2I (vehicle to Infrastructure) technology, which is the wireless exchange of data between vehicles and road infrastructure.

Increased speed and low latency will enable the deployment of autonomous vehicles. Reduced response times will, for example, improve driving safety. V2V technology could reduce road accidents by up to 80% and V2I adds a further 12% reduction. These figures are without the incorporation of 5G, but you can already imagine the impact with the fifth generation of mobile technology.

Health emergencies

Last year, to showcase the capabilities and applications of 5G, Ericsson demonstrated how a 5G-enabled drone can be used to save a life by transporting a defibrillator to the location of a person in cardiac arrest. 5G drones could reach victims up to four times faster than an ambulance.

The fifth generation could boost the use of drones in emergencies, to transport medical care teams. Indeed, there is a project involving the use of drones with medical instruments, carried out in Andalusia, Spain, with the support of Vodafone.

In 2019, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) it was shown how a tele-surgery using 5G technology works. A team of surgeons at a hospital were tele-assisted by a specialist at the Barcelona convention centre, using Vodafone's 5G network.

We've already talked about the wonders of this technology, but what is 5G?

5G technology has started to hit the market at the end of 2018. It offers an extremely low latency rate (the delay between sending and receiving information). According to information from Gemalto, from 200 milliseconds for 4G, it is reduced to 1 millisecond (1 ms) with 5G.

In addition, a single fifth-generation network can be split into multiple virtual networks (a computer networking technology that enables a secure extension of the local area network over a public or uncontrolled network such as the internet) that allow specific and optimised support for different use cases.

"The 5G wireless network will address the evolution beyond the mobile internet and reach the massive IoT (Internet of Things) by early 2020. The main evolution compared to today's 4G and 4.5G (advanced LTE) is that beyond data rate improvements, new IoT and critical communication use cases will require new types of enhanced performance," according to Gemalto's 'Introducing 5G Networks Features and Uses' report.

The projected adoption rate for 5G differs drastically from all previous-generation networks as the technology will be driven by new IoT (internet of things) use cases.

According to an Ericsson report from June 2019, 5G will reach 45% population coverage and 1.9 billion subscriptions by 2024, making it the fastest generation ever deployed globally.

What does 5G mean for consumers?

For consumers, 5G technology means not just faster mobile internet, but, more importantly, internet connectivity in many more objects than seen today, by 2020. Vehicles and homes are two examples of the great IoT revolution to come, supported by 5G networks.

How will 5G technology accelerate the commercialisation of IoT devices that rely on cellular technology instead of Wi-Fi?

Wi-Fi wireless technology is a "local area network" technology, limited in the range of its operation and very limited in speed as well as latency. Many IoT services are demanding greater ubiquity, greater mobility, greater performance in terms of speed, and greater responsiveness in terms of time. 5G is really going to unleash a true IoT ecosystem.

What are the industry developments in 5G?