Feature Story

5G and the Internet of Things: how does it fit together?

Richard Edgar, director of communications technology for Imagination Technologies, recently talked with RCR Wireless News Managing Editor Sean Kinney about the company's work in the wireless/IP space, as well as the research and development going into "5G" mobile networks and how the "Internet of Things" will take shape.

Earlier this year, Imagination Technologies joined the 5G Innovation Centre R&D collaboration at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. Other 5G Innovation Centre partners include BT, EE, Huawei, Samsung, Fujitsu, Telefonica and Vodafone.

"It's a wide spectrum of companies who all bring a different perspective to the market," Edgar said. "The whole idea is to develop some standards. The idea is that over the next two, three years, they will have a fully working 5G testbed where all the various things that are being proposed and thought about for 5G can be tested in a real world environment."

Imagination is putting in IP support 5G testing, as well as dedicating staff to the researchers.

"We will be able to provide a platform that enables everybody involved to test a fully working 5G network in advance of real deployment," Edgar said.

On IoT, Edgar explained that different use cases would require different networks.

"If Im'm trying to do a smart grid out in a field in the middle of the Midwest, then cellular becomes the IoT device of choice," Edgar said. "But in the house, I suspect that either Wi-Fi or 15.4 … they may well become the wireless standard of choice. Effectively, it will become a mixture of all of those. I do think that over the next few years there will be a slow evolution where we actually work out what is the right technology for the application. It all comes down at the end of the day to how people interact."

Watch the entire interview here.

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