Why is it difficult?

Upcoming wireless infrastructure in 5G and beyond must be designed to support applications that demand stringent latency (e.g., 1ms) and reliability (e.g., 99.999%). Applications with these requirements include public safety, industrial internet, autonomous driving, and robotic surgeries. The architectural challenge is to move the core network from centralized locations to distributed points with edge computing, only 100s of KM apart to achieve low latency. Moreover, achieving these network parameters will require innovation on several fronts: Integrated frame structure, efficient resource sharing, and advanced channel coding schemes.

What is the impact?

Solving this challenge would enable a new set of applications that make our world connected, efficient, and safe. Many applications which would otherwise require human intervention could be safely automated. For instance, 5G technology has been demonstrated for smart electricity grid automation to clear severe faults immediately and guarantee personnel safety. In the future, it would enable our cars to drive safely for us, robots perform surgery with remote instructions, and emergency responders act quickly to save lives.