Joining the 5G super highway
Fridges automatically ordering supplies, driverless vehicles travelling via sensors and sheep mustered via drones. That’s the world on the horizon as fifth-generation (5G) mobile technology rolls out, writes
THE freeways of data our mobile devices use to access the internet are undergoing a makeover. More lanes are being added and the speed limit is about to be multiplied 200 times. Traffic is about to be a thing of the past.
If 2G technology was the laneway that allowed text and picture messaging, 3G was the street that put the internet in our hands. Then 4G was the main road that delivered video streaming and video calling, and now the US-style super highway is here with the arrival of 5G.
About 70 5G mobile towers across Greater Geelong and Surf Coast are putting the devices to which they connect closer to the super highway.
Downloads taking seconds not minutes are opening up more possibilities for control in our lives. Uploads are also more efficient over 5G, with files getting where they need to go faster.
Deakin University cyber security senior lecturer at the School of Information Technology Zubair Baig said about 40 billion smart devices were expected to come online in the next five years.
“Your fridge is talking to the 5G tower while you’re streaming 10 videos from different devices while the smart vehicle parked in your garage is pulling out of your driveway and talking to sensors on the kerbside of your street, also connected to the 5G towers,” Dr Baig said of a 5G-enabled future.
Other possible 5G applications include surgeons controlling robots remotely, improvements to industrial automation, more immersive experiences involving video and graphics, and voicecontrolled appliances and systems within homes.
On the farm, there’s potential for 5G to guide remote-controlled machinery through paddocks.
“I can see a future where we have a lot more sensors on the farm which will need to be sent back to IT systems,” said Andrew Whitlock, who farms merino and barley at Rokewood, northwest of Geelong. “That connectivity will increasingly be more important.”
Teesdale crop and sheep farmer Lachie Morrison said 5G offered the opportunity for real-time data sets that removed guesswork to preempt the vagaries of the land. He sees a future where drones provide daily imaging of crop paddocks to provide updates of changes in moisture.
“It’s really not hard to imagine daily or half-daily updates,” he said.
“At the moment, we can go weeks without datasets. If there’s cloud cover when a satellite goes over, we don’t get a dataset.
“We are limited on 3G with the data loads we can send.
“In agriculture, we are reliant on long datasets and we only get a fresh dataset each year … to be able to diagnose issues.
“So to be given an opportunity for more data … we can get things done exactly at the time they need to be done and be less preemptive.”
Mr Morrison said 5G technology could also be used to develop a system of recognition for the 2000 ewes on his farm to monitor those not looking after their young.
He said by removing mothers who didn’t look after their young from the breeding program, lamb survival rates would be boosted above 70 per cent.
Dr Baig said 5G devices required a tiny fraction of the power 4G devices needed to access the internet, meaning 5G devices would have longer battery lives and be lighter.
Dr Baig, also a computer engineer, said reception on the 5G network would be better than its 4G predecessor because 5G required mobile towers to be built closer to devices to pick up high-range radio waves.
He said performance of devices in crowded areas would also improve on 5G networks, and data over a 5G network would be better encrypted.
BARWON Health chief information officer Andrew Macfarlane said 5G would allow better remote consultations and patient monitoring, and let patients access detailed imagining on their devices.
“We expect 5G will bring benefits to how we can deliver care in the community,” he said. “5G potentially opens up opportunities to extend the reach and scale of these programs to support care in the community, by enabling the handling of the transmission of the large amounts of data that are generated.”
To ready Geelong and the Surf Coast for the 5G revolution, Telstra has spent $18m on 5G infrastructure at 53 sites, the latest at Geelong’s waterfront.
Across the country, Telstra is switching on up to 60 5G sites a week, and more than 75 per cent of Australia’s population now lives within Telstra’s 5G footprint.
Optus head of 5G Harvey Wright said the company had 22 5G sites in the Geelong area with more planned.
“5G is an important element in providing innovative options that customers love through next-generation connectivity that will not only provide fast speeds and increased bandwidth, but will also be the catalyst for enabling new services and technologies that will ultimately help shift and shape the way we work and communicate,” he said.