By Alexander Hellemans

When 5G, the fifth generation of wireless communications technology, arrives in 2020, engineers expect that it will be able to handle about 1000 times more mobile data than today’s cellular systems. It will also become the backbone of the Internet of Things (IoT), linking up fixed and mobile devices—vending machines and cars alike—becoming part of a new industrial and economic revolution, some say.  A new architecture, new communication technologies, and new hardware will make this transformation possible.  A research team comprising Zhiguo Ding at Lancaster University and researchers at China’s Southwest Jiaotong University have took stock of the recent research and future needs of 5G in a review last month in Science China [pdf].  In a Skype interview Ding spoke to Spectrum about his views on how 5G will take shape in the near future.

Spectrum: 4G is now being deployed in many countries, but is it already out of date? …[Read more]