IoTech explore the basics and break this down using a jargon buster, after all, aren’t we all a little taken aback with people who use this terminology and pretend to know what it is?

Ultra-Reliable: Well, simply put ‘Ultra’ is an adjective used to describe something extreme, whereas ‘reliable’ is just another word for trustworthy so for the sake of this article you can refer to it as ‘extremely trustworthy’ if you like.

Low-Latency: The key word here is ‘Latency’ which essentially describes the delay between data being received and passed on, until it’s viewed again by the next person or device. For example; when a video is captured firstly on camera and that image is then displayed on a viewer’s device, which, during a ‘Live TV show’, can be on average between 6 and 30 seconds. Passing chunks of data from one place to another takes time, so latency builds up at every step.

With that in mind, Low-Latency describes a glass-to-glass delay of five seconds or less. There is also Ultra-Low-Latency of under a second, think of real time streaming from a video conference call but let’s leave that there for now, you get the picture!

Communication: The exchanging of information

Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication = Extremely trustworthy fast (or real-time) communication.

If you wish to experience latency in action, try listening to a live broadcast of your favourite radio station on your home or car stereo and stream the same radio station live from your smart phone, it’s extremely unlikely they will pair so the lag you’re experiencing is the ‘Latency’. Another example might be your neighbours watching the same football game as you and celebrating the winning goal 30 seconds before you do because you were watching through terrestrial TV and they were streaming through fast broadband.

 “So why do we need Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication?”, we hear you say. IoTech will try to answer that question. In the world of smart connected devices and in the ever increasing need for lightning speed information we’ve become accustomed to knowing things here and now. The Internet of Things is now moving into the 5G arena and with it comes Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication or URLLC for short.

 URLLC provides ultra-high network reliability of more than 99.99% and very low latency (of 1 millisecond) for packet transmission. These two features make URLLC a primary usage scenario for 5G as it ensures data transmission within a few milliseconds, with extremely high reliability.

IoTech believes that Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency communication is revolutionary in todays and tomorrows’ digital world. With 5G URLLC, we can have enhanced entertainment experience, increased machine productivity in factories, improve electricity distribution, driverless – autonomous vehicles, the list goes on and on!

Do you require faster communications? Want to take to advantage of URLLC? Contact us for a free chat about your challenges info@the-iot.co.uk

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In this article IoTech explore the future of IoT in the future world of 6G

We understand that 5G is all shiny and new with its recent launch as our previous news item called ‘5G and The Internet of Things’  tells you all about, however, we were curious about what to expect next. We’ve seen 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G & 5G all appear to have taken flight within 10 years of one another, in fact we’ve put together a picture to illustrate this but what next? Do we need 6G? What will 6G allow that 5G won’t?

Let’s firstly explore the limitations of 5G (5th Generation):

Data Speed: Up to 10GB per second
Faster: 100 times faster than 4G
Download an average movie: Around 17 seconds
Latency: 1 Millisecond
Coverage: 45% of the world
Support: 2 million devices per square mile
Operates: 5Ghz

5G has already had a large impact on current infrastructures and requires significant investment by those countries who already have or who wish to deploy this technology. The average spend per country being around £80 billion sterling which is largely made up of fibre optic cables to ensure the deployment of this technology to meet demand. With the release of 5G it’s allowing The Internet of Things (IOT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) & Industry4.0 to meet its full potential of cutting edge technological advances and cloud deployment.

So what about 6G…

6G isn’t just a pipedream, neither is it science fiction but rather science fact. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Su Xin, whom heads up the 5G Technology Working Group said that China started looking into 6G in March, making it one of the first countries to take the bold step forward. Finland have invested millions into the ‘6Genisis’ Flagship project – which is a vision for the year 2030.
This will open up even more opportunities and applications in the fields of The Internet of Things (IOT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) & Industry4.0

Data Speed: 1Tbps
Faster: Theoretically 1000 time faster than 5G
Latency: Less than a Microsecond
Operates: Sub-terahertz frequency spectrum between 252GHz and 325GHz

In conclusion we at IoTech don’t expect 6G networks or technology to be around anytime soon, after all, 5G has already cost an estimated 1.8 trillion ($) to date which is estimated to rise to 2.7 trillion by the end of 2020. With that in mind all companies, carriers, countries and network providers will want to recoup their 5G investments.

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