The New 5G Networks Will Be Faster, Smarter, And Hyperconnected To Everything

Talk of future wireless networks is swirling ahead of Mobile World Congress, enough so that it's sucking many of us into believing that 5G networks could feed all of our Internet device needs.

By all means, keep loving 4G, which will continue to evolve and become more readily available for many years ahead. But for those intrigued by the next big thing, now is the time to tune into industry leaders from around the world as they hammer out standards for 5G networks, which are projected to switch on around 2020 - or sooner, if South Korea demonstrates it in 2018 when they host the next Winter Olympics.

For networks to evolve beyond 4G, intelligence, communication capabilities, and processing power will need to be diffused across networks and mobile devices, empowering even the smallest of connected devices to do heavy computational tasks and run rich content and services. That's according to Asha Keddy, general manager of mobile standards for advance tech at Intel, who has attended Mobile World Congress for the past four years and will be speaking on a panel at this year's event.

Keddy describes 5G as the first network designed to be scalable, versatile, and energy-smart for the hyper-connected Internet of Everything world.

"These next-generation networks will need to solve a more complex challenge of combining communications and computing together, so intelligence is at your fingertips," says Keddy, who is helping Intel work on technologies designed for the network core, network edge, access network, and device layers to enable it.

Last year Cisco, Intel Labs, and Verizon, in a joint wireless-network research project, revealed a novel set of neuroscience-based algorithms that adapt video quality to the demands of the human eye, hinting that future wireless networks would have built-in human intelligence.

Keddy says that every G runs through about a 10-year cycle before a new generation supersedes it.

"The 2G networks were designed for voice, 3G for voice and data, and 4G for broadband Internet experiences. With 5G, we'll see computing capabilities getting fused with communications everywhere." What this means, basically, is that 5G networks will bring computer processing to the devices that need it. "A wearable device could connect to other devices," Keddy explains, "and this could lead to new kinds of experiences."

These 5G networks will be faster and a lot smarter. Devices will need to become smarter, too, as they will act as networking nodes rather than just terminals. Keddy says that's why Intel is working on technologies for the core, edge, and access points of these networks, as well as what's required for devices to take full advantage of 5G networks.

With 5G, computing power and information will feel like they're following you around. Wearables, smartphones, tablets and other devices with sensors that are location- and context-aware will work together with apps and services you use. Keddy says that all of these things working together might bring augmented experiences to real life.

"You might have a meeting with someone on your calendar, and a few minutes prior, your device might share some data about that person by quickly sending you content cached nearby in the cloud," she says.

She describes how 5G networks will use separate planes that are overlaid and beneath the network, often utilizing Wi-Fi, to ensure energy efficiency while delivering proximity or location-based services tied to smartphones, wearables, and other sensing devices.

Keddy says everything from wearables to Internet-connected washing machines, smart meters, traffic cameras, and even trees with tiny sensors could be always transmitting data, which would be analyzed quickly to help you make decisions where and when it matters.

"Even wireless charging will be integrated to help keep devices running, so building energy efficiencies into 5G networks is essential," she says.

Adapted from an article by Ken Kaplan, Intel iQ Editor-At-Large.

Visit Intel at Mobile World Congress 2014.

Find out more about Sponsor Posts.