INGENIEUR
5G: A STRATEGIC
RESOURCE
Malaysia has started the ball rolling on 5G with
the setting up of a task force. Authorities are
now preparing the necessary groundwork to
provide the framework for the rollout sometime
in 2021. It is time that engineers and other
professionals gear up to take advantage of 5G
applications and usher the country into the 4 th
Industrial Revolution.
F
or most of us, 5G is basically a step up from
4G. There has been a lot of chatter about
5G at various levels. It has been touted as
an important link to economic development.
Industry sees it as a tool to transform the way we
work, learn, communicate and travel. Agriculture,
education, healthcare, leisure and manufacturing
sectors are said to benefit if they take advantage
of this latest cellular technology.
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What is 5G?
5G is the common term used to describe the next
generation of wireless systems. We are familiar
with these systems because we use them on our
mobile phones. We may not be too familiar with
2G, 3G and 4G but we have certainly encountered
GSM, UMTS and LTE, as the digital cellular
networks that our phones connect to.
5G is not only the next generation digital
cellular network, it is exponentially faster, capable
of ultra reliable low latency communications
(URLLC) and can accommodate a massive number
of devices per square kilometer (Massive Machine-
Type Communications or mMTC), thus bringing
scalability to a very high degree. All of these will be
possible in an environment where there are large
amounts of concurrent connections.