University of Surrey: On the road to 5G

University of Surrey’s Professor Rahim Tafazolli argues 5G success depends on cross-industry collaboration

The 5G Innovation Centre (5GIC) at the University of Surrey has researched how 5G will create multiple options for the automotive industry through its network sliced architecture. This will not only improve the car journey experience but will create massive value. Professor Rahim Tafazolli is at the Network 2020 5G car on GSMA Innovation City to explain how this works on many different levels.

Professor Tafazolli indicates that the connection of all the machines – from providers of in-car information to traffic management – requires a much more considered, well thought out ecosystem, engineered from the ground up. In a sector-specific IoT, there can be no room for incompatibilities because, unlike in previous eras, the approach of ‘build in haste and integrate later’ won’t work, he says.

Mobile operators, automotive manufacturers, roadside operators and smart city service providers need to agree standards and common protocols now, so that as vehicles progress through these services there is a coherent exchange of information, Professor Tafazolli says. The 5G approach and architecture outlines how each has its own devices, enabling APIs (application programming interfaces) and slices of network that are optimised for different things e.g. latency, reliability and/or throughput, so that applications with very different priorities can achieve what is important for them.

Professor Tafazolli, together with other leading industry and academic institutions, worked on the Future Communications Challenge Group (FCCG) report, which outlines the technology, regulatory, planning and other key challenges that need to be overcome. It also provides guidance on the ability to use public and private assets, tactics to smooth the adoption of a common ecosystem and a breakdown of the government ‘silos’ that determine the ability of the automotive industry (and other sectors) to work harmoniously with the authorities.

Massive levels of across-the-board and across-the-border collaboration will be needed in transport. Motor manufacturers must work closely with each other, mobile operators, governments and industry bodies, so that services being designed now will dovetail perfectly in the coming years as everything joins up. This calls for unprecedented levels of human integration, since industries and standards bodies and national regulators will need to co-operate fast, says Professor Tafazolli.

When 5G is fully meshed, every sector will be run far more efficiently with less waste in manufacturing, better use of resources such as energy and roads and water and fewer fatalities resulting from better health care, says Professor Tafazolli. However, that dream cannot be accomplished without considerable work to define the ecosystems and standardisation.

Visit the Network 2020 5G car stand at MWC in Hall 4, Stand Number 4A 30 and learn more about Future Communications Challenge Group (FCCG) report.

 

To download the report click on the image below: