The Mobile World Congress Shanghai event took place this week and Huawei as a telecommunications provider giant has taken the main stage in sharing some new developments and this time, they talk a lot about 5G-Advanced (5G-A) or can also be known as 5.5G. In Malaysia itself, Huawei and Maxis have already shown the first 5.5G in Southeast Asia last February which saw a speed test of 8Gbps achieved.
Richard Liu, President of Marketing and Sales of Huawei ICT Solutions today shared a bit of the potential of 5G-A when injected with AI. Whether consciously or not, every day more and more technology-based things are certainly receiving an injection of AI and benefiting from it. With 5G-A networks getting faster and supporting more users and devices, the field of AI will benefit three things, namely Human Relations, Connected Cars, and Connected Devices.
The first is how the universal human experience will improve as a result of the integration of 5G-A and also AI where things like searching for goods assisted by AI recommendations, video streaming that can be optimized based on algorithms, allowing 3D videos with 8K resolution assisted by AI to display them and only consume 1.1GB of space for a 2-minute video.
In addition, the development of AI-based interactive components has become popular in China. Huawei itself has also developed an AI Avatar program that will create a user avatar, and the avatar is able to communicate in multiple languages and provide real-time translation.
Next is about Connected Cars. With many smart vehicles that are also connected to the internet, 5G-A technology is needed to enable the vehicle to always provide the best to users, both in terms of experience and new ways of using the car.
Richard stated that the connected car should focus on 2 main experiences, which are the entertainment experience and the interaction experience, where the multimedia player in the car needs to support download speeds of up to Gbps. And in terms of interaction, 5G-A should be equipped with AI that can perform connected car diagnostics, and also be able to control music or calls.
As for the new way of driving, most connected cars have various sensors and even cameras that help driverless driving. All of this requires data transmission to be done in real time, and Huawei also feels that in 2028 there will be 4 million self-driving vehicles that do not need a driver because AI capabilities have been perfected by that year.
Finally, the ability of devices to connect has the potential to result from a telecommunications network that has already connected nearly 10 billion people. Richard expects this number to increase by 2030 when around 74% or 9.8 billion people are expected to be connected.
This is where rapid development is needed in developing AI assistants and workers who can help various industries. 1 AI assistant for every human being will be able to operate multiple connected devices, and also learn and make decisions based on existing input from today's connected devices such as smart glasses, smart watches and more. AI workers are an extension of the machines in the factory, and these are controlled by one main AI who acts like the director of the factory, producing more accurate and faster products. With these two, there will be nearly 10 billion AI assistants and workers.
In making AI assistants and workers successful, Huawei has done a lot both in terms of equipment and large-scale use. With the existence of various devices that can record in 3D using two 8K 120fps cameras and 6 degrees of movement (6DoF), spatial videos can be generated, providing a better understanding of the space. Equipment like this can also provide information to the AI assistant to analyze all aspects of the interaction. One of the results is a smart coal mine with panoramic monitoring where there are more than 100 14Mbps cameras that upload data above 1Gbps.
Therefore, the need for a network that supports AI has 5 main components, namely connectivity that requires all networks to support 5G-A with gigabit speeds and low latency rates, sensor detection of connected devices, lossless data transmission, computing that supports processing on large scale and high performance and high capacity storage system to store all results from this AI.
In developing a network that supports AI, it is also necessary to develop AI for the network and operate on its own (Autonomous Network - Swarangkaian). This network allows the network to connect with other networks on its own, but with the large number of connected devices and connected systems in line with technological progress, the development of a network that can handle all of this is necessary. It is divided into 6 levels (L0-L5), and Huawei wants more networks that support L4 as soon as possible.
One of the benefits of 5G-A with AI is in maximizing revenue, resulting from the growing experience and services. Revenue is the backbone for most new technology evolutions, and with data transmission increasing based on user demand, user experience will also generate new demand. For example, if the demand for robots that assemble goods can maximize profits, with those robots serving more in smart factories, they can also optimize operations as a whole, and continue to generate profits. These two will depend on each other, to ensure business development.
Richard also concluded that with the advancement of 5G-A and injected with the rapid development and capabilities of AI, there will be more opportunities resulting from smart productivity.