5G And The Fear Of Radiation

Radiation fears mount as the world gets ready to embrace the networkintensive 5G

- Akshit Sangmola

Just a decade ago, 4G, the fourth generation wireless network, shook up the world speeding up data transfer and ensuring superior and uninterrupted mobile and internet connectivity. Now, the world is gearing up for 50 times faster 5G that will make wireless digital communication near seamless. The US and South Korea have already rolled out the network on a trial basis. In May 2018, five Nordic countries— Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland—announced their plan to create the world’s first interconnected 5G region. India, which lagged in the implementation of earlier networks, has set up a high-level forum to establish the vision for 5G in the country and plans to begin trials by 2020. The euphoria around 5G is for a reason.

A host of industries have been waiting for the arrival of 5G for quite some time now. Development of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based technologies and Internet of Things (which includes smart wearables and virtual reality headsets) has been slow due to lack of superfast data transfer. One example is autonomous vehicles. Automakers have already developed driverless smart cars. They can become usable only if they communicate with other cars and traffic signals. This requires superfast data transfer with minimal delay (a latency as low as 1 millisecond). 5G is being architected to support all such low-latency applications, including industrial robots to remote surgery (‘Brace for 5th...’)

The new technology “will move us closer to everything, everywhere and at all times, and enable inter-working of different technologies and networks,” says Rita Rinaldo, head of institutional projects, European Space Agency. “Integration of satellites in 5G networks will allow for new applications in domains such as agriculture, health and emergency response for communities living in rural areas,” she says.