The greater development of 5G lies in industrial applications

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Some people say that 4G has changed our lives, and 5G will change society. So what substantial changes will 5G, which is already on the way, bring to society?

In this regard, Wu Hequan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said that the development of mobile communications from 1G to 4G was all personal communications, but 5G not only brings wider bandwidth and higher speed, but the greater development of 5G lies in the application scenarios it targets, industrial applications and a large number of unknown application innovations.

Regarding the application scenarios of 5G, Wu Hequan pointed out that they are mainly positioned in the following two categories:

First, low latency and high reliability. The main application target is high-speed rail, and in the future, smooth communication at a speed of 500 kilometers per hour must be guaranteed. Another is to realize the Internet of Vehicles, and in the future, 5G will help us avoid traffic accidents on highways. In addition, the more fashionable VR, AR, virtual reality, and augmented reality not only rely on high bandwidth, but also require low latency. In the future, AR and VR have huge industrial applications.

Second, low power consumption and large connections. The goal of 5G is to support 1 million sensors per square kilometer, and the IoT nodes can be connected to the Internet, which is a very high-density large connection. The reason why we need to face the IoT at the node is to adapt to the current Industry 4.0, industrial Internet, and smart cities, which all require large-scale sensors. The current IoT is generally fragmented, and the future smart city needs to achieve large-scale connections, and 5G can support this type of connection.

"These are the application scenarios and goals designed for 5G. Of course, industrial applications and applications other than consumer applications may not have to wait until 5G begins." Wu Hequan said that the country is now promoting "Internet +" and Made in China 2025, and is also trying to apply 4G to the industry. The mobility of e-commerce is now obvious. More than 80% of orders on some large platforms are initiated by mobile terminals. In the future, as mobile terminals become more powerful and have stronger bandwidth in the 5G era, terminals will be connected to the cloud, and they will be able to do more.

Wu Hequan believes that the more important application of 5G in the future should be industrial application, which is also a major business growth point for operators in the future.

In the 3G era, no one would have thought that WeChat would be so widely downloaded and used in the 4G era. Similarly, it is unknown what super applications will be born in the 5G era. In Wu Hequan's view, many applications are not thought out before product development, and many applications will only appear after product development. "So I think as long as this (5G) capability is available, the vast number of users will generate more application innovations."

Wu Hequan said that there are still many things that mobile communications can do in the future. For example, it can help alleviate traffic congestion and create real-time dynamic traffic flow maps through the integration of big data technology to facilitate the travel of drivers and ordinary people. In addition, in the future, mobile communications can even help people check the PM2.5 conditions around them in real time, and mobile phones can replace PM2.5 testers.

Facing the "ubiquitous" challenge brought by 5G, Wu Hequan said that 5G must not only adapt to human communications, but also to the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things is low-speed, low-power, and high-reliability, which is different from human terminals. How to combine different terminal requirements is a major challenge. Therefore, when developing products, we cannot just pursue a single indicator, but must take into account multiple indicators such as power consumption, cost, and reliability.