Few technologies in our time have been as anticipated as the fifth generation of wireless communications. 5G, as it is colloquially known, is promising to bring a whole new level of automation to society and business. One place 5G is sure to make big waves is with the Internet of Things, the billions of smart devices and services that are increasingly being leaned on as a new economy emerges. Today, we will take a brief look at 5G’s current state, its capabilities, and what it means for the future of the Internet of Things.
5G has been used in marketing for several years now, but it was only in 2020 that any telecoms started pushing out the technology. There are three major benefits of 5G:
As with every upgrade made to cellular networks, it takes some time to implement as telecoms need to put the infrastructure in place and manufacturers need to create devices that support this new technology.
The Internet of Things has been growing and growing for years now. Some estimates put the total number of “things” on the IoT at about 26 billion in 2020. With technology that will allow tools to operate with virtually no latency, IoT devices can be developed to do many things that aren’t possible with 4G LTE, the cellular platform that is used by most users today. Since the viability of Internet of Things devices is tied to how they perform, the lack of latency and the increased speed is going to help developers produce devices around consumer’s lives more accurately and proficiently than ever. With 5G speeds, which are reported to be up to 7.5 Gbps or about .94 gigabytes per second. To put that in perspective, users could potentially download an average 1080p movie in about 8 to 10 seconds. This means major changes for society. Here are a few examples of how 5G is going to change the way we look at IoT devices:
The Internet of Things and 5G are two emerging technology trends that look as if they will improve our society. What do you think? Do you think that the convergence of these two technologies means as much as it seems to? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below and stop back at our blog for news and insight about today’s (and tomorrow’s) information technology.
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