Fact or fallacy: How smart can you get without 5G?

Smart city development relies on the expansion of 5G technology. "Cities around the world are adding technology to improve environmental, financial, and social aspects of city life. Cities that use technology in this way to improve the lives of citizens and improve communication between residents and city officials are called 'smart cities,'" ZDNet said.

Still, there are many things a city can do to become smart without 5G. Here, we explore some of the myths surrounding 5G capabilities and smart cities by looking at which claims about 5G are fallacies and which are facts.

Myth: Cities can’t become smart without 5G

While 5G is not a requirement for smart cities, this new generation of cellular technology will provide cities with the opportunity to use data and IoT devices and sensors to improve people's lives. Many cities in the United States have launched digitalization plans in the past few years, but none has built a fully operational smart city. Smart cities require strong wireless networks to transmit data collected by IoT sensors and support millions of connected devices. 5G has a high coverage density, which is necessary for high-bandwidth and low-latency smart city applications.

Fact: 5G will coexist with other wireless technologies

When building smart cities, 5G must coexist with other wireless technologies to meet a variety of use cases. Whether coupled with Wi-Fi in buildings, high-capacity satellite in rural areas, or fiber networks in densely populated cities, 5G will complement rather than replace these other forms of mobile broadband. Although 5G is rolling out, it is not expected to be widespread in the United States until at least 2025. Before 5G can reach the scale required to support smart cities, 5G networks must become open, interoperable, and standards-based. This will promote innovation and competition and make 5G easier to deploy.

Myth: 5G is a faster version of 4G

While that's somewhat true, 5G is a new technology that uses new frequencies and systems. It uses high-frequency spectrum and can carry far more data than 4G. In fact, 5G is designed to be nearly 100 times faster than 4G. Latency, or the time it takes for a device to communicate with the wireless network, is much lower with 5G. Another key difference: 5G is designed to be cloud-native and software-based, meaning that network functions that once relied on physical hardware can be offloaded to the cloud, according to the BSA Foundation.

Fact: Self-driving cars need 5G connectivity

Autonomous vehicles must be able to operate safely and independently in areas with high vehicle density, such as highways and cities, without human intervention. To communicate with road infrastructure, autonomous vehicles rely on vehicle-to-everything technology, which requires higher data rates, higher reliability, low latency, and response times of a few milliseconds. Today's operators and automakers are building 5G autonomous vehicles that integrate these technologies.

The accelerated deployment of 5G wireless networks is necessary to bring self-driving cars to the masses. 5G will provide additional network capacity through new frequency bands and the ability to manage many connected objects, including cars, sensors and infrastructure.

“When building smart cities, 5G will have to coexist with other wireless technologies to meet a variety of use cases.” - Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research

Myth: Smart buildings rely on 5G

Smart buildings require the integration of traditional infrastructure with IoT sensors and applications, cloud services, and next-generation wireless networks to access large amounts of data in real time. 5G networks can handle more connections per tower. In addition, 5G's low power requirements make it easier and more economical to deploy mobile battery-powered devices within buildings. In dense urban environments, 5G will be deployed alongside wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi 6, which are comparable in terms of throughput, reliability, and latency.

Fact: 5G supports edge computing

As 5G connects IoT devices and sensors, edge data will grow exponentially. Technologies such as edge computing and network slicing maximize the performance of wireless networks by processing data locally.

5G significantly reduces latency and increases data processing speed. Therefore, Deloitte said that 5G and edge computing, as complementary technologies, can improve application performance and bring computing power closer to end users. As 5G networks continue to be built, edge computing can be used together with 5G and the Internet of Things for many smart city applications.

Fact: 5G requires a lot of energy

At first glance, 5G consumes much more electricity than 4G. In addition, as the Internet of Things grows rapidly over the next decade, energy use is expected to increase. However, over time, advances in 5G will make the technology more efficient. Studies have shown that today, the average 5G base station consumes three times more energy than a 4G base station.

To reduce 5G costs, operators will likely deploy smaller transmitters that consume less power, but they will need more of them to cover large areas. As a result, 5G small cells are likely to become a common feature on city lampposts and other fixtures.