The wireless industry is one step closer to a 5G future, as member countries of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on Thursday approved a roadmap for the development of 5G standard.
According to a press release, the plan includes an overarching “vision” for 5G, along with “the goals, process and timeline for its development.”
The detailed technical performance requirements for the radio systems to support 5G will be developed in collaboration with industry and national and regional standards organizations, following the timelines defined by ITU.
“The new ITU-R Resolution sets the stage for the future development of 5G mobile technologies,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
While 4G was largely focused on speed, the 5G standard is expected to address latency and capacity constraints. The idea is that coming M2M and IoT applications will require lower latency in healthcare, safety, business, entertainment, and other sectors.
“The new 5G specifications will facilitate not only infotainment applications in shopping malls and at large public gatherings, where a large number of handsets and devices could be in use concurrently in a high data traffic situation, but also support professional use among the police, fire brigade and ambulance services using public communication networks,” the ITU said in a statement.
Filed Under: Infrastructure, Wireless, IoT • IIoT • internet of things • Industry 4.0