The 5G specs aim squarely at IoT, with an eye toward supporting the millions of sensors that scientists expect to see deployed in support of smart homes, smart buildings and smart cities. To do this, 5G will have to support far greater density of connected devices. “5G will also have to provide much lower endto-end latencies than today’s cellular networks,” Krishnamachari said. Krishnamachari’s team is exploring the likely interactions of 5G-supported sensors in urban settings, where networks will need to handle data on such diverse phenomena as traffi c fl ows, air quality and noise pollution, disasters, security incidents, and crowds. “5G will enable much greater capabilities across a wide range of problems,” said Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “It will be faster, and there will also be more intelligent management of the network. 

You can have millions of sensors but you also need the means to deal with the fl ood of information that comes out of that. 5G includes much more advanced data analytics and network management.” While scientists understand the technology driving 5G, actual implementation remains a few years off , with likely rollouts beginning in the 2020 time frame. 

There are questions of spectrum allocation that need to be resolved, among other issues. Local government will likely be called upon to play a part in any eventual deployment. “5G will require many more antennas, and those antennas have to be hooked up to power and the rest of the Internet,” said Doug Brake, telecom policy analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “Building out all the 5G equipment and connectivity will have to be a cooperative endeavor with local governments if it is to truly fl ourish.”