From smart cities to asset tracking, to smart utilities, to agriculture – 5G will drive new age of communications where AR, VR will play a major role in terms of redefining communication experiences
As we move ahead towards the 5G era – the 5G wireless standard will deliver a unifying connectivity fabric that will bring huge enhancements to today’s mobile broadband services, the experiences delivered and expand mobile networks to support a vast diversity of devices and new-age services.
And most importantly – the introduction of 5G will revolutionize the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem, enabling a huge number of innovative 5G-communications driven use cases and applications.
Some popular 5G driven use cases are coming to the fore, as we move towards 2020. The following are the most talked-about 5G use cases, focusing mainly on the broader categories of connected services.
Most Important 5G Use Cases
Enhanced Mobile Broadband: The 5G standard promises to usher in the next era of immersive and cloud-connected experiences with faster, more uniform data rates at lower latency and lower cost per bit. The 5G standard will take mobile computing performance to the next level with high-speed, always-on, always-connected Internet links with real-time responsiveness.
Fixed Wireless: As touted by many telecoms experts, one of the top 5G use cases will come in the segment of fixed wireless access. In a 5G era, fixed wireless will provide Internet access to homes using wireless network technology rather than fixed lines. In this scenario, beamforming and mmWave will play a critical role to boost wireless broadband services and deliver ultra-broadband to users.
Massive IoT Ecosystem: The most anticipated and talked about 5G use cases are around massive IoT segment – it is the ability to seamlessly connect embedded sensors and create IoT ecosystems that can talk to each other seamlessly. As predicted by Cisco – the industry foresees huge numbers — as many as 50 billion — of potential IoT devices in service by 2020. And hence, IoT is one area where 5G will play a major role, from smart cities to asset tracking, to smart utilities, to agriculture – everything connected in a single plane.
Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications: This is where connected cars and connected vehicle ecosystems will emerge as big use cases under 5G umbrella of communications. This category includes new services that will transform industries with ultra-reliable/available low-latency links, such as remote control of critical infrastructure, and self-driving vehicles as well. The level of reliability and latency will be vital to gain control on smart-grid, industrial automation, robotics, drone control etc.
5G, the Road Ahead
Once we are living in a 5G era, applications and use case opportunities will exponentially increase and drive telecom networks to deliver great user experiences.
There is no doubt that as a technology – 5G holds great promise and there is huge potential for further 5G use cases in future services and applications around – healthcare, smart cities, remote industrial automation, drone technology, e-governance, e-education etc. Telecoms just need to prepare their network infrastructure in order to reap full benefits of this future-ready communications technology.
This story first appeared inside the April 2018 issue of Disruptive Telecoms – an initiative by TelecomDrive.com
