5G controversy? No problem, the next wireless evolution is 5.5G
In recent years, 5G has been controversial, to say the least. From governments banning 5G modem manufacturer Huawei from building out their 5G networks to conspiracy theories that 5G causes COVID-19, it seems like the wireless standard could not catch a break. Indeed, the 5G hype has sputtered, and many consumers do not even notice the difference between 4G and 5G. Now, it seems like 5G might be forgotten in favor of the up and coming 5.5G. Before getting into doom-posting, let’s first clarify what all these “G’s” mean.
4G refers to the 4th generation of mobile wireless technology; 5G is consequently 5th generation; and 5.5G, also known as 5G-Advanced, is the bridge before we reach 6G, which occurs approximately every 10 years. Although 5G was promised to be 10 times faster than 4G, in the United States 5G is only twice as fast as 4G. However, the focus on consumer applications of 5G created misdirection and misinformation about the technology. I’m old enough to remember the time when the next big thing in the 2010s was the Internet of Things (IoT) and Industry 4.0. Essentially, most of the benefits were meant to be for firms, not consumers, and 5G was meant to be the key enabler to allow AI powered smart factories and precise optimization through the use of Big Data. Everything would have a sensor attached that allowed real time monitoring of processes with extensive automation.
While consumers are primarily concerned with download speeds, upload speeds and connectivity are key for industry applications. Enter 5.5G. With 10 Gbps down, 1gbps up, and up to 100 billion connections, 5.5G will truly allow the factory of the future to have sensors wirelessly connected everything. It also enables passive IoT tags, which work without batteries and have ten times the coverage of traditional RFID tags. The productivity benefits range from the mundane- such as robotic arms using a wireless connection instead of cables that wear out- to applications not yet fully understood- such as way to incorporate AI into every more devices.
The intersection of 5.5G connected industry and AI is particularly fascinating. Two obvious applications are increased prevalence of edge computing and generation of additional data sets that can be used to train AI. The current generation of large model-derived AI- from autonomous driving to chat bots- rely on a specific type of data such are driving data or text for training that is then fine-tuned. However, the presence of additional data types could allow us to reach a general artificial intelligence for certain applications. However, given how governments used “national security” grounds to restrict 5G and AI, it will only be a matter of time before 5.5G- and all its productivity gains- becomes the next target.
