AUSTIN, Texas – This week on HetNet Happenings, RCR Wireless News Managing Editor Sean Kinney takes viewers inside National Instrument’s annual NI Week conference and exhibition.
Kinney talks with James Kimery, National Instrument’s director of marketing for RF, communications and software defined radio, about the work telecom operators and vendors are doing to establish an ultimate standard for 5G mobile networks, the next step beyond LTE.
Kimery discusses the relationship among 5G, the “Internet of Things” and Wi-Fi, and previews a panel discussion on those topics.
Kinney takes a look at Kimery’s panel, which includes Andrea Goldsmith of Stanford, Robert Heath of The University of Texas-Austin, Farooq Khan of Samsung and Amitava Ghosh of Nokia Networks.
The group discusses whether IoT is a subset of 5G and whether 5G will supplant Wi-Fi.
Goldsmith, a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University, said Wi-Fi might still be preferable even once 5G is in effect because it’s cheaper and widely available.
“It’s everywhere and in everybody’s homes today and a lot of IoT applications are in homes. There will be a component of support for IoT,” she said, but noted it may not fully reach what carriers envision.
Goldsmith gave the example of her sneakers and other objects having connectivity. People won’t be willing to pay at current data rates for these objects to connect over cellular when Wi-Fi is available at a fraction of the cost.
Khan, president of Samsung Research America, pointed out that in a large portion of the world, Wi-Fi is not ubiquitous and still requires backhaul, which also isn’t available everywhere.
Heath, also a professor of electrical engineering, summarized the transformative promise of 5G, specifying augmented reality, virtual reality and transportation.
Watch the latest episode of HetNet Happenings:
Stuck in traffic or video blocked at work? Listen to the HetNet Happenings podcast:
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/218236509″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
For previous episodes of HetNet Happenings and other RCRtv productions, click here.
