What new entrepreneurial opportunities will 5G+AI and 5G+IoT generate?

What entrepreneurial opportunities are there in the 5G era?

Dr. Hao Xu, head of R&D at Qualcomm China, shared the latest technological advances in 5G, as well as the application directions and new entrepreneurial opportunities of 5G technology.

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How 5G will change society

"5G is a brand new technological era. From 2G to 4G, people were connected. 5G is the era of the Internet of Everything. We often hear that 4G changes life and 5G changes society. In addition to the Internet of Everything, the other two key features of 5G are ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency. When we are facing various vertical fields, our design requirements will be very different. For example, the transmission speed brought by ultra-large bandwidth has exceeded the requirements of personal applications (even downloading 4k clear movies); but for machines, today's computing speed has reached Tb/S, so human-computer interaction or interaction between machines can have higher speed and bandwidth requirements. A typical application of low latency is V2X (vehicle-to-everything) and autonomous driving. When pedestrians appear in front of autonomous vehicles or there are other emergencies, the lower the latency, the more timely the response can be to avoid accidents."

In the 3G and 4G era, China was more of a follower: when 4G networks and applications were already mature abroad, China followed suit. But in the 5G era, China has the opportunity to become a leader. Chinese operators are actively deploying 5G networks and promoting 5G applications, which provides many opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Advantages and application scenarios of millimeter waves

Millimeter wave is a new wireless communication technology supported by 5G. It has a high frequency and more spectrum resources. "In terms of network deployment, the use of millimeter wave technology can achieve good hotspot coverage in crowded scenes such as corporate offices, large venues, transportation hubs or subways."

Application scenarios of massive IoT

"The technology of massive IoT started with 4G. In the standard planning of 5G, we can be compatible with 4G IoT technology on the one hand, and will also introduce 5G-based IoT technology on the other hand. The market of massive IoT enabled by 4G/5G is very broad. It can be used not only in smart homes, but also in agriculture and smart cities. For example, sensors can be used to monitor crop production and pest conditions; or smart parking lots can be built to facilitate parking space allocation and automatic parking."

Application scenarios and entrepreneurial opportunities of 5G+AI

AI commercialization 1.0 is based on big data applications in the cloud. The trend of AI commercialization 2.0 is to move from the cloud to the edge, bringing the capabilities of artificial intelligence to everyone. 5G is a high-speed, high-reliability, and low-latency communication channel that effectively connects the cloud and the edge, so that artificial intelligence resources can be allocated in the most optimized way. The combination of 5G and AI will enter many new scenarios and generate many new opportunities.

In the 5G era, important terminals include not only mobile phones but also XR (extended reality) glasses. "The low latency of 5G can reduce the dizziness caused by VR glasses and improve the experience; the introduction of light field capture technology can achieve a better immersive experience, such as watching a concert more immersive. AR glasses combined with 5G+AI applications can not only improve the efficiency of remote meetings, but can also be used in the fields of medical and industrial manufacturing (taking advantage of the low latency of 5G)."

Industrial Internet: "5G+AI can make flexible manufacturing a reality. Factories can get real-time feedback on consumer demand without having to wait until the goods are unsold. In addition, 5G can make the connection and communication between robotic arms and robots in the factory wireless, making production more automated and reducing costs when changing production lines."

5G will make the Internet of Everything possible

Tian Hui, senior expert of Alibaba Cloud IoT Division, shared the new opportunities that 5G brings to the Internet of Everything, as well as the new applications of 5G and IoT in logistics, smart cities and other areas.

The Internet of Everything is not a new concept. Ten years ago, there was a grand plan to "perceive China". The reason why it was not successful at that time was mainly due to the immaturity of infrastructure and technology. Now 5G technology makes the Internet of Everything possible. IoT can establish various channels and open up information chains. With rich data, intelligent applications can be realized, such as sensing the number of people and distribution in a building and automatically adjusting the temperature and lighting.

Location awareness is a very important application of IoT, especially in product traceability. "The location of goods provided by JD.com and Cainiao is actually the location of the truck and courier, not the real location of the goods. If a device is added to the valuable goods during transportation to track the location of the goods in real time and accurately, it is possible to accurately trace and track them," said Tian Hui.

Urban digitization is also an important application scenario for 5G and IoT. "Using various remote sensing, sensors, and drones, we can sense all aspects of the city. A typical example is the digitization of urban pipe networks to predict which areas will be flooded when heavy rains come and which subway stations will be affected."

There is a lot of room for startups in the 5G era. "It is impossible for a large company to do everything. It may be an Internet platform in the 5G era, but there are still many opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovative applications in vertical fields. For example, in the digitalization of cities, satellites or drones collect huge amounts of data, and startups can mine and analyze the value of this data."

5G startups need to keep up with the latest technology and find the right business model

The guests’ sharing was full of valuable information, and the entrepreneurs present actively asked questions, seeking their deeper insights into 5G technology and entrepreneurial direction.

Regarding autonomous driving, Dr. Xu Hao believes: "The reason why Tesla encounters problems that others do not encounter is that it is more advanced in technological innovation and application exploration in the fields of electric vehicles and autonomous driving. The cases reported in the news where drivers fell asleep in the car and were chased by police cars for dozens of kilometers can be solved as long as the car can detect the police car or have a camera to observe whether the driver is asleep.

At present, the Internet of Vehicles and autonomous driving are still in the early stages. The direction of improvement in the future is to improve the communication efficiency and coordination between vehicles and between vehicles and roads. The high speed, low latency and high reliability of 5G are of great significance to autonomous driving.

"Of course, being able to develop technology is one aspect, and being able to commercialize it is another. For example, we can use high-end radar and lidar equipment to make prototypes or demonstrations, but if the cost of autonomous driving is too high, users may not spend a lot more money on autonomous driving just because it can change lanes automatically."

"Startups need to keep up with the latest technologies and find the right business model. Large companies will have technological accumulation and advantages in promoting technological development. At this time, small startups are more likely to make breakthroughs in some emerging or marginal fields. However, startups must also consider the size of the market they face. Markets that are too small or cannot find a business model are not worth considering." Dr. Xu Hao said this about the choice of entrepreneurial opportunities in the 5G era.

This article is reprinted from Alpha Commune. E-IO Smart City has edited the article for readers' reference.