FEATURE WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
5G CELLULAR NETWORKS: THE FUTURE OF ROBOTICS
The fifth generation of wireless, 5G, is the first to wirelessly address the need of applications such as robotics rather than just increasing data rates and expanding coverage like previous generations did. This incredibly ambitious standard, called IMT-2020 by global regulator, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), will completely revolutionise the way cellular networks are built, the devices they can connect with, the frequencies at which they operate, and the applications they serve. Barry Manz for Mouser Electronicshas more
be required, a colossal technical challenge. Other promised benefits of 5G such as cloud computing and increasing data rates are relatively "simple" when compared to reducing latency to such a minute level, as it faces the immutable laws of physics. To understand this, consider that the speed of light (and radio waves) is 299,792,458 m/s - in a vacuum. As the Earth's atmosphere is not a vacuum this speed is reduced by about 90km/s, and even further by the optical fibres, terrestrial and satellite communication links, and the electronics and interconnects through which a signal must pass. So the shorter the physical distance between Point A and Point B, the lower latency time can be, and this is how 5G intends to accomplish its goal of reducing this metric to below 1ms. It will require the number of data centres
5
G technology will pave the way for a new generation of robots, some free to roam
controlled via wireless rather than wired communications links and exploiting the vast computing and data storage resources of the cloud. Precisely controlled dynamically in near real time, and connected to people and machines locally and globally, robots and 5G will fully enable applications such as the "factory of the future" and many others previously beyond the capabilities of both cellular and robotics technologies. The innovations within 5G will greatly expand the capabilities of robots beyond their present roles in manufacturing, industrial applications and increasingly in medicine, and we will expand the definition of a robot to include autonomous vehicles, gyrocopters and other unmanned vehicles. In healthcare, the synergy between 5G and robotics should enable tele-surgery, in which operations are orchestrated remotely by doctors and performed locally by robots, by around 2025. 5G will also play a crucial role in creating the
factory of the future, an application in which sub-1ms latency is essential. In combination with almost limitless cloud processing and data storage, 5G communications will allow robots in next-generation manufacturing
16 MARCH 2017 | ELECTRONICS
environments to exchange large amounts of information between themselves and the factory workforce, revolutionising the "shop floor" along with other 5G enabled devices such as wearables and technologies like augmented reality. The "untethering" of robots via 5G and GPS-based geolocation will allow them to perform functions impossible today
SO WHY NOT NOW? Besides the fact that robots and the entire "ecosystem" required to enable tele-surgery and other next-generation robotic applications are still in their infancy, current 4G networks simply do not have the characteristics required to make them possible. As they require virtually instantaneous response times, it will be essential to reduce a metric called latency to unprecedented levels. Latency is basically the time span between when an input is initiated at one point in a communications link and when it returns with error-free input from another point. Current 4G LTE cellular networks have
round-trip latency of about 50ms but to enable applications like robotics the 5G standard recognises that less than 1ms will
Figure 1:
5G technology will pave the way for a new
generation of robots, some free to roam controlled via wireless rather than wired communications links and exploiting the vast computing and data storage resources of the cloud
that collectively form the Cloud to be dramatically expanded geographically, as a data centre in one location is likely to be too far away from most other locations to reduce latency time to acceptable levels. This expansion, combined with data rates greater than 1Gb/s and the use of new cellular frequencies an order of magnitude higher than those in use today will be the essential ingredients that allow distances ranging from 1km to 100km to be covered with sub-1ms latency. Although these higher radio frequencies are sparsely used today, there are nevertheless a large number of RF and microwave components available to build radio transceivers at these millimetre wavelengths. Although heralding a new era in telecommunications which enables robotics, 5G will not bring overnight transformation. Enormous innovations are needed in every aspect of the network (millimetre-wave communications systems, software- defined and virtual network architectures, new interference-free wireless access methods). Looming above it all is latency, which researchers must find a way to reduce to virtual insignificance.
Mouser Electronics
www.mouser.co.uk 01494 467490
/ ELECTRONICS
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