5G: the Network of the Future. Benefits and Perils

The fifth generation mobile network (5G) is a set of emerging global telecommunications standards, generally using high-frequency spectrum, to offer network connectivity with reduced latency and greater speed and capacity relative to its predecessors. One example is emerging autonomous cars and intelligent transportation, to which small latency is essential. It is argued that the current communications infrastructure is highly energy-inefficient and the 5G should be designed to solve this problem, by increasing energy efficiency by several orders of magnitude. To meet 5G requirements, we need dramatically new network architectures and technologies, such as heterogeneous ultra-dense networks, massive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO), and millimetre wave communications.