5G, beyond an ultra-fast connection

5G, beyond an ultra-fast connection

Connected cars, artificial intelligence and smart cities just around the corner

   This year is coming to an end and the 5G is already on the launching ramp . A new concept that is just around the corner despite the fact that 3.67 million Spaniards live in an area where there is no 4G coverage.

Five years after their arrival, LTE or 4G technology is still not available in 8% of Spanish homes , so they can not be born online through their mobile devices. Technology expected in 2020 and whose first tests are being carried out in Segovia and Talavera.

These are Telefónica's test bank, but Vodafone and Orange have also done their experiments with Huawei and Ericsson , respectively. The 5G has offered, at least in the laboratory, speeds up to 100 times faster , than those currently available.

   The construction and deployment of 5G throughout Europe is expected to require an investment of close to 56,000 million euros . According to the estimates of the European Commission, the benefits of introducing 5G technology in four productive sectors (Automotive, Health, Transport and Utilities) will progressively increase to reach 62,500 million euros annually in the European Union, in the year 2025.

If we also consider the economic impact of improving the efficiency of cities, homes and workplaces, the total annual benefits expected would amount to 113,000 million euros. This growth, moreover, would translate into 2.4 million jobs in the EU. "Spain is ready to lead the development of 5G in the European Union," said Francisco Polo, Secretary of State for Digital Advance in the presentation of the 5G National Observatory this November.

However, the arrival of this new concept goes beyond an ultra-fast connection. The broadband , despite being unknown for 8% of Spanish, will be deployed by the Iberian Peninsula and the connection will reach all objects : cars, speakers, televisions, kitchens, toothbrushes, homes, etc ...

«More than a mobile network»
The 5G is the perfect match for the now famous internet of things . That fifth generation will allow faster data connections and more information circulation than those currently known.

Its structure is based on three fundamental points: reducing the delay of communications, increasing the flow of information transfer and improving coverage. The auction of spectrum in the 1.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands will allow the development of this new type of connection and will be the red carpet for the definitive disembarkation of autonomous vehicles in smart cities .

"Systems like driverless cars and maintenance drones will increasingly depend on real-time telemetry to work. The 5G is more than the mobile network that provides connectivity; It is the connective tissue that unites all of them, which allows operators to extract vast data sets to obtain useful ideas that will be crucial to achieve sustainable urban growth, "explains Ericsson.

Precisely that connective tissue that unites everything also does so virtually. Low latency is the perfect broth to expand virtual reality. Precisely, the Swedish Ericsson in collaboration with NeuroDigital Technologies and doctors from King's College London, used an artificial patient to demonstrate how a surgeon can use a virtual reality glasses and a special glove to control a robotic arm that performs the operation in another place.

The glove has haptic feedback engines that activate when the artificial organ is touched, which gives the feeling that you are really touching it. Other tests have shown to drive remotely a vehicle of small dimensions located 50 kilometers away and under a latency of 30 milliseconds, a speed lower than they are able to capture the senses of a human being.

In the case of Spain, according to an estimate made by the Government, it is foreseen that with the appropriate investments, indirect annual benefits will be obtained in the four aforementioned productive sectors of 14,600 million euros, starting in 2025.