5G: What it means and why we'll never need 6G

The launch of 5G isn’t all that far away, with rollout dates pegged between 2020 and 2022, and the technology has never been more needed.

5G network connectivity could be a major solution to current and future problems. 5G is not just about speed to provide services for the digital society, it also has various capabilities such as smart transportation links, immersive media, e-health and augmented reality overlays for the smart cities of tomorrow.

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5G: What it means

If 5G is to effectively meet the needs of the modern world, it will need to extend much further than our mobile phone network infrastructure. So, what does 5G mean:

• Download speed is 10Gbps, while the average 4G speed is 100Mbps
• Data capacity is 1,000 times that of 2010
• To ensure the safety of self-driving cars, data transmission delay is reduced to 1 millisecond
• Providing Internet connectivity to 7 trillion wireless devices and 7 billion people
• Zero perceived downtime
• Reduce energy requirements by 90% through new high-efficiency micro-base station technology

5G will provide all of this while adhering to the golden formula that the cost of data transmission decreases at the same rate that the amount of data increases.

Why there will never be 6G

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing so fast that every piece of technology will soon need to be wirelessly connected to the internet. This will include connected smoke detectors, washing machines, refrigerators, farm livestock sensors, thermostats, smart watches, sleep monitors, fitness bands, trash cans and street lights, as well as sensors that monitor traffic, air pollution, noise and parking.

5G will need these new innovations to create the greater value needed to ensure its success. Mesh networks will be used to allow devices to talk wirelessly to each other, and when needed, they will piggyback on each other as they find a path to the internet. Essential elements of the overall 5G vision will help free up bandwidth.

Smaller macro cells will replace the large base stations currently in use, and these new base stations will use millimeter wave frequencies to transmit more data in a smaller frequency range. Compared to the coverage range of today's base stations, more millimeter wave base stations will need to be deployed, because the coverage range of these individual base stations is only a few hundred meters.

Hundreds of MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) antennas will be used, all mounted in a small area, to send and receive multiple sets of data simultaneously at incredible speeds.

It’s clear that 5G will be more than just a new mobile network infrastructure; it will use multiple forms of connectivity and, if done right, will never require 6G.