Wireless industry reaches consensus on 5G goals

Last year, after the first Brooklyn 5G Summit, we wrote that the wireless industry was still sorting out exactly what would define the next generation of wireless technology. As we move into a future where millions more devices are connected — the rise of the Internet of Things — a robust wireless network will only become more important.
Fortunately, the industry has come to a consensus about the goals for the technological suite that will enable 5G, according to Dr. Hossein Moiin, the CTO of Nokia, who gave the first keynote of the second summit, again on the campus of the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering.
Moiin raised the possibility that in a connected future rich in devices, that industry might be able to give people back two hours of their day. He argued that recent technology has taken time from people, but he believes with 5G we might be able to give it back, as connected devices begin to take on more and more mundane tasks.
“I think we’ve made progress in defining the basis of 5G,” Moinn said, during an interview following his talk. Probably the three most intriguing metrics he articulated for a 5G future were: 10 Gbps capacity (under ideal conditions) with universal 100 Mbps access and a less than 1 millisecond of latency (that’s the time between sending a command and receiving a response).

There are already prototypes that can achieve each one of the goals in existence now, except latency. Moiin said he believed we would see a prototype that achieved that goal before 2015 ends.
Latency is important for devices whose operations need reliable, real-time data from a central data center. A notable example here: the driverless car. While driverless cars will be able to make decisions independently, the more data they have from other cars on the same road, the more safely they can transport passengers.
Moiin also foresaw ways in which the Internet of Things could improve services. One point he was excited about: the idea of waste-less water distribution systems. Water systems are leaky. Lots of water gets lost, which is too bad, considering how much energy we expend treating it to potable standards. With more extensive sensor systems, systems could find all those leaks and fix them.