[Answered] “5g could be one of the most important development in human history”. Comment. Explain various challenges involved in adopting the 5g technology.

“5g could be one of the most important development in human history”. Comment. Explain various challenges involved in adopting the 5g technology.

Ans.

5g is the next generation cellular technology that will provide faster and more reliable communication with ultra-low latency. A government panel report points out that with 5G, the peak network data speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabit per second (Gbps). The primary use of the technology will go beyond delivery of services on personal mobiles devices.

How it can be the most important development in the human history?

1. High speed: 5G will revolutionise the mobile experience with supercharged wireless network, which can support up to 10 to 20 GBPS of data download speed. It is equivalent to a fibre optic Internet connection accessed wirelessly. Compared to conventional mobile transmission technologies, voice and high-speed data can be simultaneously transferred efficiently in 5G. This will further enhance and support government’s effort to promote digital India.
2. Better Governance– Better speed and connectivity can reduce red tapism. It will enhance speedy completion of projects and better implementation of policies. It will enable accountability in the system through a better monitoring system and will reduce corruption.
3. Low latency: It is one of the most important features of 5G technology which is significant for autonomous driving and mission critical applications. 5G networks are capable of latency less than a millisecond.
4. Employment generation- 5G wireless technology will open greater opportunity for new device manufactures and application developers. New VoIP devices and smart devices will be introduced in the market and thus more job opportunities as well.
5. Less energy efficient- Device-to-device communication techniques are suggested to further enhance network performance and support during limited access or absence of mobile networks. Small cell concept used in 5G will have multiple advantages of better cell coverage, maximum data transfer, low power consumption and cloud access network etc.
6. Entertainment and multimedia industry- Analysts found that 55 percentage of mobile Internet traffic has been used for video downloads globally in 2015. This trend will increase in future and high definition video streaming will be common in future. This will help in growth of entertainment industry and thus more jobs will be there. It will also increase government revenue.
7. Internet of Things – Connecting everything– Internet of Things (IoT) is another broad area for development using supercharged 5G wireless network. Internet of Things will connect every objects, appliances, sensors, devices and applications into Internet. 5G wireless network will be utilised by smart appliances which can be configured and accessed from remote locations, closed circuit cameras will provide high quality real-time video for security purposes.
8. Logistics and shipping– Logistic and shipping industry can make use of smart 5G technology for goods tracking, fleet management, centralized database management, staff scheduling and real-time delivery tracking and reporting.
9. Smart cities- Smart city application like traffic management, instant weather update, local area broadcasting, energy management, smart power grid, smart lighting of street, water resource management, crowd management, emergency response etc. can use reliable 5G wireless network for its functioning.
10. Industrial Growth- Future industries will depend on smart wireless technologies like 5G and LTE advanced for efficient automation of equipment, predictive maintenance, safety, process tracking, smart packing, shipping, logistics and energy management. Smart sensor technology offers unlimited solutions for industrial IoT for smarter, safe, cost effective and energy efficient industrial operation.
11. Smart farming- 5g technology will be used for agriculture and smart farming in future. Using smart RFID sensors and GPS technology, farmers can track location of livestock and manage them easily. Smart sensors can be used for irrigation control, access control and energy management.
12. Healthcare and mission critical applications- 5G technology will support medical practitioners to perform advanced medical procedures with reliable wireless network connected to another side of the globe. Connected classrooms will help students to attend seminars and important lecturers. People with chronic medical conditions will benefit from smart devices and real-time monitoring.  Doctors can connect with patients from anywhere anytime and advice them when necessary. Scientists are working on smart medical devices which can perform remote surgery. Smart medical devices like wearable will continuously monitor patient’s condition and activate alert during emergency.
13. Security and surveillance- 5G wireless technology is one the best solution for security and surveillance due to higher bandwidth and unlicensed spectrum. It will enhance better coordination among various agencies.
14. Efficient transportation- 5G can also help make transport infrastructure more efficient by making it smart. 5G will enable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, making driverless cars, among other things, a reality.

Challenges present to adapt to 5G are:

1. Frequency allocation: Indian operators have far less spectrum in comparison to international operators. The high investment cost which makes telecom companies unsure about Return on Investment. Though 4G LTE already operates on established frequency bands below 6GHz, 5G requires frequencies up to 300GHz.
2. Infrastructure issues- Despite 5G offering a significant increase in speed and bandwidth, its more limited range will require further infrastructure. Even with antennas and base stations getting smaller in this scenario, more of them would likely have to be installed on buildings or homes. Cities will probably need to install extra repeaters to spread out the waves for extended range, while also maintaining consistent speeds in denser population areas. Spreading out access to rural areas will be as much of a challenge as it was with LTE.
3. Cost to build and buy- Building a network is expensive, and carriers will raise the money to do it by increasing customer revenue. Much like LTE plans incurred a higher initial cost, 5G will probably follow a similar path. And it’s not just building a layer on top of an existing network, it’s laying the groundwork for something new altogether.
4. Expensive Devices– 5G-enabled smartphones and other devices, availability and affordability will depend on how expensive they are for manufacturers to make, as well as how quickly ubiquitous the network becomes. Thus in a price conscious market like India deploying 5g at such an early stage is a challenge.
5. Security and privacy- 5g rollout will have to contend with both standard and sophisticated cybersecurity threats. Though 5g falls under the Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA), a system designed to establish trust between networks, it would currently be possible to track people nearby using their phones.  They could even eavesdrop on live phone calls. The onus will be on the carriers and network consortiums to provide a digital safety net for customers, except user complacency could be equally problematic.
6. Network investment- In India, the telecom sector is facing capital investment issues which need to be resolved. Non-availability of funds for investment is an issue. Many of the Indian operators are also under debt. Thus funding will be an issue.

Way forward for India:

5G is one of the most sophisticated wireless technologies we have ever developed so far. It will revolutionize the entire area where wireless network can be used for efficient and secure communication. India should not miss the opportunity and should proactively work to deploy 5g technology.We should focus on strengthening our cyber infrastructure. Funds should be allocated and local technology and telecom firms should be incentivised to develop their internal capacities which would in turn help 5G technology succeed in the country. 5g start-ups that enable this design and manufacturing capabilities should be promoted. Coverage, reliability, and scalability must be optimised and seamless mobile networks will require a unified management policy to ensure consistent standards.