How 5G is changing engineering design

The last decade has seen unprecedented advances in technology, including the widespread use of smartphones, the deployment of billions of IoT devices across all industry sectors, the introduction of Industry 4.0 and the rise of edge computing. But this technological growth has not slowed down. While this is beneficial in many ways, it can also put pressure on infrastructure. It is clear that unless this infrastructure issue is tackled head-on, the next generation of technology will not work.

A particularly troublesome factor is the introduction of cloud computing, as it removes the need for individual devices to handle their own data. While this greatly simplifies their design and reduces costs, it also requires higher bandwidth and lower latency.

Edge computing is a solution that can alleviate some of the problems faced by cloud computing. However, as edge computing devices may be located in the local network, bandwidth limitations may result in degraded performance for other internet-connected devices connected to the same network.

Network technology challenges

Many network technologies exist, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The main network technologies that are widely used include Wi-Fi, cellular, remote (LoRa) and cable (fibre).

Wi-Fi offers an excellent balance of speed, latency and cost, which is why it dominates the home wireless market. However, the higher frequencies used at 5 GHz and 6 GHz can reduce its effective range.

Cellular networks such as 4G have been developed with mobile technology in mind and as such they offer excellent features as well as range and device support. However, they are impractical for real-time IoT applications. They offer large download speeds, but suffer from latency due to long waiting timeslots.

LoRa radio is a networking technology that is becoming increasingly popular for remote IoT applications due to its low energy requirements and long range capabilities (over 15 km in some cases). To reduce energy consumption, LoRa has an extremely small bandwidth and is only suitable for sending bytes of data (it is not suitable for live video). LoRa is therefore commonly used in remote industrial locations, such as oil pipelines, farms monitoring large amounts of land, and environmental sensors identifying potential forest fire risks.

Fibre is the ultimate solution in terms of speed and latency, as the use of physical connections eliminates the need for high energy antennas, sensitive receivers and complex network hardware. However, the physical nature of the cable means that only devices physically connected to the cable can use the network.

What does 5G offer?

Unlike its predecessors, 5G has been designed with connectivity in mind, focusing on IoT devices, edge computing and cloud computing. As such, its main goal is to provide customers with higher speeds, lower latency and an infrastructure that can improve network services.

5G utilises higher frequencies in the microwave region, which increases its bandwidth (up to 20 Gbps) and utilises multiple, non-overlapping channel frequencies. In addition, the use of MIMO antennas and beamforming further reduces interference between devices operating on the same channel.

5G also significantly reduces connection latency using a variety of techniques, including network slicing, non-fixed time slots and local edge computing services. Network slicing allows 5G networks to create separate channels, thus minimising the number of devices using any one channel at the same time, while the introduction of non-fixed time slots allows 5G devices to transmit data when needed.

Finally, in a 5G network, data-heavy cloud services can be located closer to users, meaning connected clients can access resources faster. Instead of having to travel from the device to the cell tower and back to the internet, clients can access the cell tower directly and get the data they need.

Future applications

Although 5G is still in its infancy, many applications could benefit greatly from the high bandwidth, low latency capabilities on offer.

One such example is the connected car (V2X). A major challenge for car manufacturers is the development of autonomous driving and collision avoidance technologies. Current solutions must operate independently, which means that they often rely on numerous imaging technologies, including radar and LIDAR. While this facilitates the handling of anomalies, it still sees limited response times and introduces unknowns.

However, V2X presents a solution where all devices (including all vehicles, pedestrians, road signs and traffic control systems) can report key data such as location, direction and speed. Using 5G network data, vehicles on the road can predict the risk of a collision well in advance, while also warning pedestrians and other vehicles of their own position, speed and direction. V2X therefore offers many safety and traffic management opportunities due to the low latency and large device support offered by 5G.

Industrial sites are another promising application for private 5G networks, where operators can create and manage their own 5G networks. Many industrial processes often rely on real-time data from machines, which is why industrial systems have historically struggled to operate on general-purpose LAN networks. The large number of simultaneous connections and the use of autonomous delivery systems that can move throughout the plant also make technologies such as Wi-Fi unsuitable.

The ability of 5G network devices to roam between access points without losing connections and provide low latency makes 5G well suited for use in industrial sites. Such a network can not only support a large number of devices, but can also prioritise traffic according to its importance. Better latency can be provided for real-time packets. In addition, the use of edge computing services located at individual access points can reduce latency while putting less strain on the larger network.

The introduction of IoT devices also opens up new possibilities for city management and planning, triggering a new area of the IoT: smart cities. Arguably the two biggest challenges facing city management relate to traffic management and pollution. Cities can manage traffic by monitoring vehicles and road use, and they can manage pollution through the widespread deployment of air quality sensors. However, current network infrastructure cannot handle thousands of sensors across a city, and the security challenges posed by such devices mean that whatever network is used must be built on security.

5G networks are ideally suited to the growth of smart cities, not only because they can handle thousands of devices and provide large bandwidth, but also because they can run virtual networks that can deploy strong security practices, eliminate the need for passwords and API keys and support physical device authentication.

?5G offers exciting new possibilities for engineers due to increased bandwidth, improved latency and the ability to support edge computing. In addition, the ability to create private 5G networks opens up new opportunities for enterprises and manufacturers. Finally, the ability to run services at the edge could improve cloud-based applications for millions of customers.

Source: ThousandHome.com