The internet is always growing. Its evolution can’t stop, and it will continue to get better day by day.
Most of us know that 5G technology is on the horizon, but may not know what that actually entails. Maybe we realise the basics, but don’t actually know its impact on several factors of life. How will it automate or affect our daily lives? To figure that out, we need to know what 5G is exactly.
What Is 5G?
5G is simply the fifth generation of mobile data wireless technology. Formal standards are yet to be set for 5G, but here are a few things that have been teased:
- 5G is simply the fifth generation of mobile data wireless technology. Formal standards are yet to be set for 5G, but here are a few things that have been teased:
- The bandwidth of 1000x per unit area
- 10-100 connected devices
- 99.99 per cent availability
- 100 per cent coverage
- Network energy usage should reduce to 90 per cent
- Battery life should be up to ten years for low power machinery
- Battery life should be up to ten years for low power machinery
Previous technologies like 3G and 4G were a breakthrough, but 5G would take the data network to a whole new level.
How will 5G help to unleash the potential of autonomous driving?
Many experts have waxed on about the future of autonomous driving and how it will be revolutionary in multiple ways. But its real potential will be unlocked with 5G, and it won’t be long before 5G will be implemented and autonomous driving will be the norm.
5G will provide multi-gigabits of speed to improve the immersive user experience. 5G’s evolution doesn’t end there: its sole purpose is not to improve user experience, but also to make every little thing connected to the larger network. 5G will help to provide direct communication that will allow cars to communicate with each other and help the software to drive itself automatically. This mode of operation does not require any reliance on the wide area network coverage.
5G new radio
The answer lies in the new 5g interface 5G new radio (NR). 5G NR is a newly developed air interface. This interface is the radio frequency portion of the circuit between the mobile devices and the active air base station. The active base station will change according to the movements of the user, and each changeover is known as a handoff.
But how is autonomous driving possible without any reliance on wide area network coverage?
The answer basically lies in the release of 16 5G NR based C-v2X (cellular vehicle to everything) technology. It will bring out new and direct communication capabilities like a high rate of data transfer and low latency communication, which fulfils the needs of advanced autonomous driving, while it also maintains backward compatibility release of 14 C-V2X.
14C-V2X is specifically for automotive safety
14C-V2X is primarily designed for low latency direct communication that will ensure an automobile’s safety. It allows communication directly in case of low latency. This facilitates the communication between vehicle to vehicle (V2V), pedestrians to the vehicle (P2V), and vehicle to roadway infrastructure (V2I), all without the need of any network coverage or cellular subscription.
Rel-14 C-V2X basically is for the automotive safety. Many companies are conducting trials of automatic automobiles to test their potential and to identify loopholes in the system. According to experts, we will see its practical implementation somewhere between 2020 and 2023.
16 5G NR technology will make vehicles free of the reliance on network coverage or any network subscription, as it will get itself all the help it needs from radio frequencies.
Autonomous vehicle depends on several sensors
Without a driver, think of how many sensors a vehicle would need. It needs to detect everything in every direction. These sensors have to analyse the surroundings and respond accordingly. Radars and cameras will be an absolute necessity for these autonomous vehicles. Rel C-V2X enables the direct communication capabilities of these sensors and provides them with 360-degree non-line of sight awareness. It enables the vehicle to detect what is farther down the road, even in bad weather conditions.
Was 5G the missing link for autonomous driving?
The concept of autonomous driving has been presented a long time back, but its implementation requires a certain type of internet technology that could back all the automated processes. This new 5G technology which not only needs no carrier and provides connectivity with radio frequency has presented the missing piece to the autonomous driving puzzle. And told us exactly what was missing. The true potential of autonomous driving lies with 5G technology right now. Recently an article from world-famous business magazine “Forbes” claimed that self-driving won’t be possible without 5G. It says the current technology of 4G is capable enough to give us good speed for sharing the vehicle status or requesting ride but it is not capable enough to provide the vehicle with human reflexes that might prevent these self-driven cars from getting into accidents. Autonomous driving is one of the numerous things that will be unlocked by the 5G. Virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and smart cities etc. all are sitting on the edge of major breakthroughs- they all just need the data network technology to gain a pace and catch up. They all require the fastest data network that could pass on things as quickly as those algorithms run.
Qatar’s Ooredoo tests its first 5G network:
From the news of the tech worlds, world’s first commercial 5G network launches itself in the capital city of Qatar. If there was a race for 5g then definitely, Qatar’s carrier has earned a gold medal for itself. Ooredoo was racing for 5G network since 2016, and have previously completed all the local 5G trials. Even developed early 5G base stations and launched the business services trial with Qatar Airways to test the potential and quality.
5G will be going places and will take over the world by storm. This article is just a glimpse of how 5G will unleash the potential of autonomous driving. But 5G will not just unleash the true potential of autonomous driving but also of several other things. Just wait and watch!
Robert James, Content Writer, Comcast Xfinity Internet
Image Credit: Freepik