Find out why IoT Analytics expert Satyajit Sinha believes the sector stands to benefit from the deployment of 5G.Find out why IoT Analytics expert Satyajit Sinha believes the sector stands to benefit from the deployment of 5G. Read More iot
IoT analyst Satyajit Sinha told Mobile World Live why he believes 5G has a role to play in the sector, particularly in emerging categories including connected and autonomous vehicles which require far higher bandwidths than the sensors and trackers which helped establish the category.
The principal analyst, IoT component, connectivity and security with research company IoT Analytics (pictured), explained that, on the surface, there is no real need for 5G in the IoT and no clear evolution as there was with past mobile technologies spanning 2G to 4G.
Sinha explained while 4G offers high-bandwidth capabilities, the fact it can be adapted to cover multiple bands led to a realisation it could be employed for lower-level services, in particular those where power was not a constraint.
With up to 18 different categories of 4G LTE for IoT, he noted an ability to improve on existing services including on-board diagnostics, which could tap multiple sensors rather than the two or three offered over 3G.
Mobile point-of-sale devices were another key market for 4G in IoT, with Sinha noting it was relatively easy to equip devices with Cat-4 connectivity.
Variants including LTE-M and NB-IoT were driven by use cases “where the battery and lifetime of the devices” covered long periods. These technologies typically offered a ten-year lifespan for devices.
“So, it makes sense that every technology was finding their own places in the IoT ecosystem”, Sinha said.
Architecture shiftA need for change presented itself when LTE-Advanced began to become prevalent. Sinha explained that technology is more than capable of handling additional IoT services, but lacks some key features 5G brings to the table.
The latest technology’s service-based architecture is important, Sinha said, because it enables the software to run in the cloud, leaving the hardware largely free to focus on the radio element or edge computing connectivity.
So, unlike the past mobile technology evolutions, “5G is not just an advancement of 4G” because it changes the architecture by bringing cloud connectivity into the mix.
This shift means 5G IoT devices can also be used in open RAN deployments “because you are able to shift everything to the cloud”.
Sinha noted there are already some services reaping the benefit of 5G, pointing to fixed wireless access (FWA), a system he noted does exist in 4G, but explained is only now finding viability.
He noted 4G was “not effective” for FWA because of the need to distribute bandwidth beyond the range of the technology.
As noted, 5G has the bandwidth chops, but Sinha said even this is not the key benefit of the technology in FWA. Instead, the real gain comes through network slicing capabilities, which enables bandwidth to be portioned out for specific applications in equal doses.
Sinha noted 5G IoT has also become important in the connected vehicle space, particularly the electric vehicle sector, where the penetration of semiconductors and sensors has soared due to the need to monitor elements including battery temperature and the drive motors.
“The more sensors you require, the more you require connectivity” to the edge or cloud.
OpportunityPerhaps more fundamental is the ability for 5G to pave the way for future developments: Sinha mentioned CV2X and CV2V, emerging vehicle connectivity specifications he said will boost safety by enabling vehicles to communicate with each other along with roadside infrastructure.
In this context, 5G “makes life much easier” by unlocking functions which may only come online in the future.
“So 5G opens the door for the things that are not yet possible for some of these things”, he explained.
An area which is very definitely possible today is private 5G. Sinha noted this is gaining traction among enterprises and in sporting situations like the recent Paris Olympic Games, where Orange provided connectivity to sports broadcasters on a dedicated network.
There are plenty of examples of sports clubs looking to private 5G to meet demand for connectivity inside stadiums, but Sinha noted a potential benefit in this for people living nearby, as taking visitors off the public network solves a problem of access when matches are taking place: “Giving access to private 5G for a stadium alone actually helps the people who are living around” it.
The analyst noted there remain some use cases which fall more into the nice-to-have category than an actual need, but argued there are some must-have situations including rural connectivity.
Pointing to India as an example, Sinha noted it would cost operators “tens of thousands” of dollars to deploy fixed networks throughout the nation, but 5G opens the door to create FWA clusters for a fraction of the price.
Providing this connectivity could then open the way to supply hospital networks, “connected healthcare devices” and “remote monitoring systems”.
Sinha conceded these applications are possible over 4G, but argued 5G is the enabler because the previous-generation technology “will not have the bandwidth to support” the number of sensing devices a healthcare facility would require.
Despite the potential, Sinha believes deployment of private 5G has been sluggish, with the cost of data a key reason as operators charge more to help recoup investments in spectrum and network deployments.
The analyst believes governments could hold the key to boosting private 5G and, in turn, relevant IoT devices, noting network deployments in China are ahead of other countries because of national initiatives and a solid device ecosystem.
Sinha’s comments indicate there is a strong future for 5G in the IoT, albeit one as an enabler of new and updated services rather than necessarily pushing other mobile technologies out of the picture.
There may, of course, also be greater reliance as older generations are switched off, with 4G and 5G set to benefit from greater availability of spectrum due to refarming.
