Soon, 5G wireless networks will span the globe. What benefits will 5G bring to the IoT, and what does 5G infrastructure look like?

Wireless technology has changed significantly over the years from 2G to 3G, and on to what we use today, 4G. Every iteration increased wireless transfer speeds and gave way for many improvements to mobile tech and to the Internet of Things.

Although a 5G network is coming, it has obstacles to overcome along the way. If these barriers are broken, a fully-fledged Internet of Things will emerge.

Blinding Speed of 5G Network

5G speeds will not disappoint. 4G networks are capable of speeds up to 100Mbps, while 5G is making a huge leap to 10Gbps. Even at 1 Gb per second, you can download a movie in about half a minute, so being able to go up to 10 will make your wireless interactions feel instant.

With the ability to transmit more data at faster speeds, a 5G network will be able to make room for a whole host of IoT innovations. The pipeline of data is going to be bigger, so more infrastructure will enter the wireless world. Bridges with monitored with sensors, subway trains with exact travel times, and home functions that can be monitored and managed remotely are just a few of the things that will be interconnected through the IoT.

A 5G network will allow heart monitors and fitness trackers to inform home networks. If consumer electronics isn’t your thing, imagine this: remote surgery.

5G network speeds enable a surgeon to operate from a distant location, making emergency surgery feasible and perhaps less costly.

Smart cars are already a thing, but they don’t yet drive themselves. Having faster data transfers would make it easier to create an infrastructure for self-driving vehicles to communicate with traffic lights, other vehicles, and even the roads themselves.

How Will 5G be Implemented?

Wireless tech operates on small network cells, and the quantity of those cells will have to grow to support 5G. Without enough cells, the system will be fast but will only be available in a few locations, which would kill the whole point of improving the Internet of Things. Adding more cells into more places, on the other hand, would allow 5G networks to reach more users no matter where they are, and it would allow traffic on the network as a whole to run more smoothly.

Also, the situation of radio frequency bands is a bit haphazard, so the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is going to restructure parts of the network in a way that allows 4G and 3G networks to keep running consistently.

As for the developers of IoT technology, the race is on to see who gives us a consumer-friendly rollout of this new wireless tech. There is little doubt that any company that gets there first is going to be able to leverage that to make a significant impact on the wireless market.

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