5G: 4G etterfølgeren som vil forandre alt

Today, a large part of the people has a smartphone with a cellular network connection and can access to the internet everywhere and at any moment. Most of the mobile phone in circulation can take advantage of a 4G connection. From the second semester of 2017, the telephone provider started to spread an evolution of the 4G, the 4G+ and the smartphone brand started to create the first suitable devices. But, this is not the revolution that is promise for the future of the mobile network, namely the 5G.

What is 5G?

The 5G Network is simply defined as the 4G and 4G+ successor and it will be launch from 2020. It would have a faster mobile broadband than those that we have today and could reach the 1Gbits/s in application, while the actual mobile broadband can only reach the 35Mbits/s thanks to 4G in 2018 (1Gbits/s=1000Mbit). But this is not the only advantage that 5G will bring.

The advantages

First, in addition to benefit from a better mobile broadband, according to the first test realized in Finland, this is also the steady speed of 5G which is significantly higher than the steady speed of 4G. It could reach the 700Mbits/s, while 4G could raise only the 50Mbits/s in the same conditions. The steady speed is more representative of the user experience. Then, the latency could be also considerably reduced. It is defined by the time between the moment when you asked to realize an action and the moment when the target system received the information of the thing to carry out. 4G offer a 0,5 second response time and 5G would offer a response time equal at one millisecond.

Thanks to this evolution of the mobile network, in addition to be punctually and globally faster, it could also benefit from less saturations. Indeed, when many people are in a same place, the actual network overloads pretty quickly. The 5G would use much more higher frequencies. Each antenna will be able to deliver more mobile signal to more people than with 4G and the antennas will be also smaller then this will be possible to set up more in the same place.

Finally, 5G would consume less energy than 4G. It is considered more intelligent in the way it supplies our mobile devices in signal and the delivered signal could differ depending on our utilization. Today, a 4G antenna allows to spread the mobile network in a defined area, a 5G antenna will send directly the signal on each device in a defined area, which avoid the potential losses of network and reduce the energy consumption of the devices in the signal search.

However, improve the user experience are not the only objective of 5G. Indeed, the precursors were only created in order to improve the comfort of the internet navigation, while 5G was thought to answer at wider problematics and for new uses.

The uses

First, the release date of this new cellular network is matching with the theoretical date of entry into circulation of the first driverless cars. Indeed, these ones cannot drive without using 5G, because the advantages mentioned before, among those about the steady speed, the latency and saturation, are essential. The connected and autonomous cars could not afford to have a too slow signal or worse to be disconnected from the network, its environment understanding would be much more difficult and would particularly increase the chances to cause an accident. Furthermore, the car manufacturers would also like that the driverless cars could exchange information each other, in order to reduce even more the accidents. The road transport companies would be also positively impacted with the introduction of the “platoon”, which means the ability to drive several trucks in one block. Only one truck driver would be required for the first vehicle of the line, in order the convoy stay under control and all the juggernauts could drive in harmony with the same speed, changes of direction, etc.

Secondly, 5G would be also essential for the 4th industrial revolution which is planned for the 2020’s. This expression named the industry automation, the reducing of the cables quantity and the labor in the industry. From the 2000’s, the demand asks for more and more products personalization so, the offer is looking for ways to answer at this one. Industry 4.0 would be the last step in the one-to-one marketing with a completely automated and personalized process for the online purchases, from the order to the delivery.

At third, 5G arrival could provide the complete maturity for the Internet of Things and widely the advent of the connected homes. Nowadays, the home automation is a minority because have a completely automatized home is expensive and difficult. It requires to possess a personal computer server in the house with optical fiber. Otherwise, as the network would be less saturate than today, more things inside and outside the house could be connected to internet because they could be in the same place without hinder each other.

To conclude, it is necessary to temper our statements, although 5G seems to be a revolution in theory, we have to wait and see what the real uses of this technology will be, and the deploying should be faster than this from 4G. If all the users are not quickly cover, the craze can rapidly decrease, and the demand would be as much rapidly disinterested by this bright technology.

Photo: Nicosariego