Our 5G Future: What Impact Will It Have on IoT?

The network has increasingly become the foundation required to support the growth and success of emerging future technologies. What 5G is depends entirely on whom you ask and what the person would like to use it for, as a large number of upcoming technologies are hinging on the as-yet undefined network to ensure growth and success. From improvements in bandwidth and cost-per-bit to lower latency and support for power efficiency, the promising capabilities of 5G are not going unnoticed. The Internet of Things is one of many emerging applications that has its eyes fixed on 5G as a possible key to mainstream success.

Greater network support is needed for the influx of data and users as the IoT continues to add millions of devices. Wireless networks will need to be more reliable than they are today to accommodate the rapidly rising demand. 5G could be the answer. With a network optimized for power efficiency, connected devices could communicate abundant information at regular intervals without consuming too much energy. 5G would extend battery life for these devices by years, making it easier for both consumers and enterprises to use them.

But in order to make that happen, the 5G network will need to meet some very critical criteria. Successful 5G networks will need to have a software defined networking (SDN) core to allow flexibility and programmability throughout the network itself. Through a network that can accommodate various speeds and send traffic in different directions depending on consumer needs, methods of service delivery will emerge, creating new market opportunities for both consumers and network operators.

Role of SDN and Network Function Virtualization

At the core of the network is network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking, which reallocate network resources based on traffic needs, offering centralization of control and programmability to the network. As more users and devices infiltrate the network, SDN and NFV will be crucial in not only reallocating resources based on demand but also in deploying services to the edge of the network, driving a revolutionary change in the way networks operate.

In many cases, consumers will need to reuse cloud resources across different networks as they consume different loads of traffic during the day. NFV will provide the required resource management and virtualization resources to accomplish this. Additionally, SDN offers the ability to program the behavior of the network using well-defined interfaces. Together, by reallocating resources and optimizing network efficiency, SDN and NFV will yield power-efficient 5G networks that allow IoT devices to communicate an abundance of information regularly without consuming too much energy.

5G’s Impact of Services on IoT

The true success of 5G in the IoT will not be whether it can support the IoT but rather in how it will allow for new methods of service delivery. Consumers are far more likely to pay for services as opposed to hardware upgrades -- no one will want to spend $200 on a new smart coffee maker every two years, let alone the money for a hardware upgrade of an entire connected kitchen. However, as Netflix and other subscription services have already proved, consumers are willing to pay a regular fee for services.

As network operators are working to determine how they can add value and where their advantages lie, they are increasingly turning to services to unlock new markets and revenue models.

Services in IoT will offer competitive advantages for enterprises and directly compete with products currently on the market. For example, in the smart home, network operators will offer services that connect to the home to remotely provide video monitoring, control the door lock, sense occupancy, and alert the homeowner to a possible burglary (or unauthorized party by teenagers), which in turn compete with products on the market today, such as an alarm system or a video surveillance product.

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These competitive advantages can also be seen in the healthcare industry, impacting not only the consumer but also the hospital. For example, a healthy patient who is asked to remain in the hospital solely for monitoring purposes is not only taking up a hospital bed from someone who may be severely injured but is also costing the hospital money. With 5G improving the reliability of the wireless network, patients could leave the hospital and be monitored wirelessly from home, with regular updates sent to the doctor, as well as alerts for any notable changes in condition.

Thanks to the SDN/NFV core of the 5G network, these alerts would be prioritized over other, less urgent network communications to ensure the doctor receives them and could react quickly. This service offers more flexibility for both the doctor and patient, while saving both the hospital and the patient time and money.

While 5G’s promise presents many opportunities for both consumers and businesses alike, there is still work to be done. The mobile industry and global regulators are trying to define the standards that will set the pace for the deployment and daily usage of 5G. IoT is only one of the many applications vying for the 5G network, with self-driving cars also being in the ring with their eyes on its low-latency benefit.

Andrei Alexandru Enescu is the Wireless System Integration Team Manager for NXP. Andrei has over 10 years of experience in the development of wireless products (base stations, mobile stations) for various broadband standards (WiMAX, UMTS, LTE). He is a Layer-1 expert, responsible for advanced algorithms for OFDM, MIMO, channel decoding, and cross-layer algorithms.

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