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The Connected
Metropolis

How 5G technology will
form a foundation for
cities that are safer,
cleaner and more livable

How 5G technology will
form a foundation for cities that are safer, cleaner and more livable

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The United States is among the most urbanized places in the world. Today, more than 80 percent of North Americans live in cities. And while these spaces offer the promise of economic opportunity and vibrant culture, their density brings challenges as well—transit congestion and high resource consumption, to name a few.

Yet a new generation of intelligent innovations—designed to be integrated directly into physical spaces and things—is set to transform America’s urban landscape. Smart cities, as they’re known, will feature digital monitoring sensors, infrastructure linked to the internet and automated transit options. These breakthroughs offer the promise to make cities safer, more efficient and more livable.

This future depends on connectivity. Certain mobile applications, such as automated transit solutions, can’t function without a high-quality connectivity link everywhere. And while many innovations already are being tested, they cannot be fully implemented with the current network. “Today's wireless technologies have the bandwidth for some smart city applications, but not all,” said Jesse Berst, chairman of the Smart Cities Council.

Thankfully, 5G—the next generation wireless network—is only a year from commerical rollout. It sets the stage for an exciting era of development in American cities. “5G holds out the hope of cost-effective, citywide connectivity,” Berst added. “You can't have a true smart city without it.”

Incorporating technology advances developed by mobile technology leader and innovator Qualcomm, 5G offers improved capacity, increased speed and decreased latency—the lag time between data transmission and responsiveness. The result is that it supports the next wave of technological advancements, including more robust solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) that, combined with AI, will be at the heart of the smart city revolution.

The implications of this connected future, where digital technology is woven into the very fabric of cities, could be profound. “When devices and urban infrastructure are communicating,” said Rasmus Hellberg, senior director for technical marketing, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., “there are wide ranging benefits to services, traffic safety, transport productivity, public safety and energy efficiency.”

Future autonomous vehicles are perhaps the most consequential of these new 5G-powered innovations. Their potential widespread adoption could offer diverse benefits: traveling would be safer (human error causes some 90 percent of traffic accidents) and riders would be freed up to work or access entertainment.

“If you have a car sensor that is in direct communication,” noted Hellberg, “that car can talk to other cars and warn them about dangers beyond the cars visible view.” Qualcomm Technologies, Hellberg added, is currently testing a cutting-edge wireless technology, known as Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X), that evolves to 5G and is designed to allow cars to communicate directly with things like traffic lights.

“According to Carlo Ratti, an urban design professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, self-driving cars could also help slow the expected increase in vehicles on the road by supporting a shared transportation system. “Fewer cars could mean shorter travel times, less congestion and a smaller environmental impact,” noted Ratti. None of this is possible without improved connectivity, he added: “5G will enable the self-driving revolution.”

“The impact of 5G, enabled by Qualcomm’s foundational technologies, could extend to public transit, as well. Users will have the connectivity to tap into smartphone apps that marry the full range of municipal transportation options with predictive scheduling. “You will use one application and one payment system to get anywhere you need to go, mixing and matching different modes,” predicted Berst.

This improved connectivity could also help solve environmental concerns. Today, buildings account for 40 percent of total energy consumption in the United States. In urban centers, that number can top 70 percent. To counter this, urban high-rises are already beginning to leverage IoT, specifically to optimize energy usage.

With increased use of things like digitized lighting control systems, thermostats and sensors that can adjust settings in real-time, these structures are able to lower energy costs and improve efficiency. 5G will boost the ability to track these efficiencies, improving data collection and automation, and bringing solutions to reach sensors deeper into buildings.

There’s innovation to be found in the energy grid itself. Smart sensors and power meters can improve productivity by tracking electricity pricing in real time and automatically switching to renewable sources when available. Across the entire country, the benefits of smart grids, which will be enabled by 5G, are estimated to total as much as $2 trillion over the next 20 years.

Smart infrastructure will also be deployed to boost to public safety. IoT enabled-buildings will churn out data that could help fire fighters keep structures safe. Meanwhile, an intelligent traffic ecosystem can allow first responders to bypass congestion to get to emergencies faster.

Cities are finding ways to make lighting more efficient, outfitting streetlights with sensors that react to movement. These lights are designed to dim and brighten based on whether there are people in their proximity. Over the next 10 years, some estimates predict that over 70 million connected streets lights will be set up around the world.

This wireless-enabled infrastructure will also serve as vacuums for data, monitoring everything from parking to weather conditions, noted Brian Russell, co-chair of the Cloud Security Alliance's working group on IoT. Cities, he said, will be able "to capture and use data to make predictions about crime, manage air quality, and protect water supplies."

Hellberg agrees. “A big part of this future is that you will have massive amount of data,” he said. “If everything is communicating—through sensors on security cameras or smart transit ecosystems—there will be a lot of relevant information that's localized.” This type of large scale, numbers-driven service delivery is only possible with an upgrade to 5G as intelligence is distributed closer to users, especially on devices and things.