5.5G is here! What changes will the extra 0.5 bring? Do I need to change my phone?

Editor: Sunny Morning

Recently, the world's first 5G-A full-series, full-scenario solution developed by China's Huawei was officially released. It is currently being piloted and verified in cooperation with multiple key operators in China, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Europe and other regions. It is expected that 5G-A will be commercially available on a global scale this year.

The 5G-A released this time is also called 5.5G . It is a mobile communication technology in the transitional stage between 5G and 6G . Some people wonder: Isn't it necessary to release 5.5G when it can just transition to 6G? It is only 0.5 more than 5G, so what is its strength?

It is reported that mobile communication technology has a new generation about every ten years, but because the technology develops so quickly, the technological differences between generations are too great. At this time, it is necessary to name the technology in the middle stage to show the difference from the previous and next generations.

This kind of play started as early as 2G/3G. GPRS was once called 2.5G, which is between 2GGSM and 3GUMTS. Between 3G and 4G, there is an even more outrageous 3.75G. Before 5G was born, the industry also used names such as 4.5G and pre5G.

Compared with 5G, the most intuitive experience that 5.5G brings us is "fast", and it is 10 times faster . The maximum data download rate of 5.5G will be increased from 1000M in the early stage of 5G to 10000M, which can support the large bandwidth, low latency and high probability required by innovative services such as extended reality and naked-eye 3D; and the maximum data upload rate will also be increased from 100M to 10000M, which can support the full cloud upload of massive data, the popularization of live broadcasting, and the symmetrical experience of holographic interaction.

For example, in the manufacturing industry of some car companies, some fire trucks may be manufactured this week, and some engineering vehicles may be manufactured next week. Its production line is constantly adjusted and changed. In the past, such production line adjustment took nearly half a month, and the time cost was very high, reaching 40 million yuan. But now , through 5.5G, the entire unlimited flexible manufacturing production line has been realized, and the adjustment of the entire production line can be completed within one day .

In the medical field, due to the ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency characteristics of 5.5G, doctors can provide real-time remote surgical guidance for patients, greatly improving surgical accuracy and enabling medical resources to be distributed more intelligently and efficiently, thereby achieving optimal allocation of medical resources; medical professionals can also use VR technology for practical training to improve their proficiency.

In the field of smart transportation, since 5.5G has the capability of "synesthesia integration technology" , base stations in the past only had communication functions but no perception capabilities. 5.5G integrates traditional mobile communications, radar, computing power and other technologies to achieve communication, perception and computing integration, so as to achieve comprehensive perception and intelligent response to the environment.

In short, this technology can make roads "perceptive", which can provide real-time information on traffic accidents, pedestrian intrusions, non-motor vehicles, etc. to vehicles on the road, effectively reducing congestion and accidents and improving overall traffic efficiency . It can be said that 5.5G synaesthesia integration technology is the nerve center and information highway of smart transportation.

In addition, 5.5G has many new features. For example, 5.5G supports hundreds of billions of connections in all scenarios and capabilities, from industrial-grade high-speed connections to large-scale passive IoT . And this passive IoT is the new IoT capability of 5.5G, which can be used for identification-type connections, while supporting high-precision positioning and micro-sensor connection capabilities, greatly reducing the cost of the Internet of Things. 5.5G will also support millisecond-level latency and centimeter-level positioning accuracy, while 5G can only achieve meter-level positioning accuracy in its early stages .

It must be pointed out that 5.5G technology is a transition and will not bring about any disruptive changes . Even 6G does not yet have any "shocking" black technology. 5.5G has two main missions: one is to correct and strengthen the shortcomings of 5G; the other is to explore the latest direction for the future development of 6G based on the development and changes of the industry .

5.5G has such a great experience, so the question is - do we need to change our phones? Yes . Liu Xingliang , a digital economist and dean of the DCCI Internet Research Institute, said that because 5.5G has some new communication features and capabilities, mobile phones need to update their chips. Existing 5G chips cannot support the stronger features of 5.5G. If we want to experience 5.5G, we need to replace our phones that support the network. However, 5.5G will not significantly improve our personal Internet experience , but will mainly bring great changes in commercial fields such as virtual reality, autonomous driving, and smart cities.

Reference sources: CCTV News, Daily Economic News, Metro Express, Chengshi Interactive, etc.