Why 5G is a revolutionary technology

In the last two years, 5G has received a fair amount of media attention from enthusiasts who write about what this technology will allow us to, from politicians who are trying to advance the interests of large companies or distance themselves from certain companies, to conspirators who create hard to believable bizarre nonsenses, such as the theory of COVID-19 disease transmission using 5G transmitters. One way or another, however, 5G opens the way to a very interesting future. What can it bring us and why is 5G revolutionary in this regard?

5G is the fifth generation of high-speed mobile networks, which is technically connected to the existing 4G network. It is a standard issued by the International Telecommunication Union. In order for a mobile network to be called 5G, it must meet certain criteria, such as a theoretical peak download speed of 20 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s for upload, and a response time of less than 1 ms, for the most stringent network category.^[1]

Because these telecommunications standards don't change very often, especially because of the very high financial and time costs, the new standard represents a very big leap forward from the previous one. It is mostly a large data flow or a very small response, which will open the door to some technologies for practical and widespread use. Up to 1.7 billion devices are expected to be connected to 5G by 2025.^[1]

For example, the new technology will bring massive automation to the industry, with the benefits of detailed supply tracking and increased logistics efficiency. Smart sensors will monitor and evaluate various processes, which can also be used in agriculture to ensure higher quality and harvest. 5G will enable the connection of autonomous vehicles to the traffic management of the so-called smart city, where very low communication latency and the ability to connect a large number of devices at once is absolutely key. Smart grids will be able to make more efficient use of electricity supply according to current consumption. High transfer speeds will allow resellers to create new marketing attractions, such as virtual or augmented reality. The drone fleet makes it easy to deliver products to customers or sow seedlings in hard-to-reach terrain.^[2]

The examples listed above are just a fraction of what this new technology will allow. Many ideas have not even been invented yet, many are just waiting for the widespread use of this technology. In any case, a very interesting future awaits us.