5G wireless networks could change everything, says Qualcomm
5G networks are still a few years away, but Qualcomm is at the vanguard of the most cutting-edge developments. The company's goal is ambitious, and it envisions a world where our homes, cars, cities, manufacturing, and healthcare are more intelligent, automated and interconnected.
Qualcomm envisions a world where pretty much everything is smarter, automated, and interconnected.
We’ve been hearing about the promise of 5G wireless networks for a while now, but its revolutionary potential has so far remained a few years away from realization. Still, that didn’t stop Qualcomm’s CEO Steve Mollenkopf from hyping up the technology at a Friday keynote, where he made the case for 5G networks to change how we go about our lives.
The company is looking at the bigger picture here. It’s not just about faster network speeds, and next-generation 5G networks could enable far more than just faster downloads and streaming.
Mollenkopf went so far as to say that the combination of faster chips – the new Snapdragon 835 is just the beginning – and speedy connections could make streaming so fast that you’ll never have to pull out a USB cable again.
Ultimately, Qualcomm envisions a world where our homes, cars, cities, manufacturing, and healthcare are more intelligent, automated and interconnected (no doubt powered by Qualcomm chips and modems).
Misfit's Vapor is its first ever touchscreen smartwatch, and it is powered by a Qualcomm chip. The company fully intends to be in a lot more of these devices.
Fancy the idea of live streamed VR content? That could be possible with 5G. There are more serious applications as well, such as recovery drones that can sense and map their surroundings without external computing power, courtesy of a Qualcomm chip that weighs less than a AAA battery.
This vision may not even be that far off. Qualcomm and Intel have announced plans for 5G modem chips for mobile devices, and they both intend to conduct trials of these modems later this year. This in turn could help smooth the path to 5G demonstration networks as soon as the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.
How fast is 5G? Well, while performance targets remain undefined, there has been talk of peak data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps, a staggering 10 times faster than the fastest 4G network today.
On Qualcomm’s end, its first generation 5G modem, the X50, has an expected peak download speed of 5Gbps.
Qualcomm is working hard to bring about a 5G future.
This raises the question of what will happen to present data caps and plans when a 4K UHD movie can be streamed with ease. According to Qualcomm, 5G networks offer a more efficient network architecture that reduces the cost of delivering bandwidth, so you won’t burn through your data plan at the same rate as you do now.
5G also aims to cut down cellular transmission delays, the better to accommodate services like autonomous vehicles, drones, and wireless health monitoring where quick response times are key.
In order to do this, 5G networks are expected to utilize higher frequency bands not used by 4G today. However, the problem with high frequency bands is that they have more difficulty transmitting over long distances and through obstacles like buildings.
As a result, mitigating technologies such as small cell networks need to be developed and deployed.
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.