Big changes on tap as 5G wireless on horizon
GREEN BAY – The room was abuzz with excitement over two characters: 5G. The uncharted potential of the next generation of wireless service was the focus of a Cellcom event aimed at introducing the technology to area businesses, legislators, and local government officials.
“There’s a lot of energy in making sure Green Bay, Brown County, and this part of Wisconsin stay viable in this technological revolution,” said Brighid Riordan, chief innovation officer for Green Bay-based Cellcom and Nsight. She spoke at the Oct. 12 5G event in Green Bay “We’re trying to make sure we’re thinking about them … so they can start their imaginations.”
The 5G technology is expected to roll out in earnest in the next few years, though 2020 is a date that gets tossed around. It’s expected to transform everything from manufacturing and health care to transportation, virtual reality and consumer uses.
At its core, 5G is an extremely fast wireless connection allowing the transmission of more data much faster. People tied to the development of 5G say it will drive new technologies and procedures like remote surgery, additional manufacturing automation and enable further development of autonomous vehicles.
It’s anyone’s guess what will grow out of 5G, but there’s a certainty it will leave a mark in Wisconsin — like the rest of the world — when deployed.
“From a business standpoint, I see it being real transformative in the abilities to do remote applications, autonomous vehicles, surgeries that are remote,” said Julian LaMue, senior vice president of commercial banking with Associated Bank in Green Bay. “I’m not sure we can really understand or wrap our minds around it . ... The younger folks who are going to drive this, it’s going to be amazing.”
New jobs
While some jobs in the future will likely be replaced by 5G and artificial intelligence, it also opens the door for new jobs.
“We need people to develop those systems, design those systems … I think technology is going to grow industries and innovations if we use it right, and I think it can grow employment in Wisconsin as long as we take advantage of it,” Riordan said. “It’s going to grow somewhere, but we want to be ahead of that and get people thinking about it so the people who have the great jobs are right here.”
Cellcom provides wireless communications throughout Wisconsin.
Ideas at the Cellcom event flowed fast and freely between Cory Peters and Joe Hilbert of Martin Systems of Green Bay as they discussed 5G and their security and home automation business. Simply discussing the topic led the men to throw out ideas of how their business can evolve.
“We can take a camera now and place it wherever we want,” Hilbert said. “We don’t need power, we don’t need internet. We can throw a 4K camera that has huge throughput, and power it from the sun and send it cellular wherever you want. It opens the possibility of things that can happen.”
Speed of change
5G will accelerate the “internet of things” — interconnected devices, such as your step-counting watch, car and eyeglasses. How much faster is 5G? In terms consumers can relate with: a movie download to a mobile device took about 45 hours on 3G; a little more than 2 hours on 4G; and will take roughly 40 seconds on 5G.
But the system is about more than movie downloads. In the case of autonomous vehicles, 5G will allow things like signs and stoplights to interact with a vehicle. It may also allow traffic to be rerouted in the case of a crash.
“Someone calls 911 … they can notify vehicles to detour and change stoplights to reroute traffic automatically, so you don’t have to wait on officers to come and stop cars and things like that,” said Jeff Waskow, a solution engineer with Swedish communications giant Ericsson, which is developing 5G technologies. “And maybe you send a drone with first aid.”
Waskow, who is based in Texas, said 5G will create new jobs as innovators find ways to optimize the technology and as the system and hardware are built and rolled out. He noted Ericsson is expanding 5G research, development and production in the United States.
5G will eventually find its way to consumers uses, too.
“For the average consumer, it’s going to mean a lot more of their life can be connected,” Cellcom’s Riordan said. “Lights will turn on when you need them and you don’t have to do anything. We don’t even know all that’s going to happen.”