IMC 2022: 5G in the Spotlight as India Prepares for Leap in Connectivity

"5G is existent", "Digital Meets 5G", "Leading 5G Innovations", and so on; these are the buzzwords that dominated the proceedings this year at the Republic of india Mobile Congress (IMC) 2018 here in New Delhi, India, which kicked off yesterday. Information technology'due south clear what the standout theme this year is by what most manufacturers and companies are showcasing here/

Well, I spent a good amount of time walking and overshooting my daily pace goal at the venue, to bring you the all-time of everything that was showcased (or at to the lowest degree I tried my all-time to embrace), so allow'southward dive into information technology –

5G Takes Center Stage at IMC 2018 As India Gets Ready For Leap in Connectivity — India Mobile Congress 2018

Samsung

Samsung, as e'er, decided to steal the thunder by setting up the first and 1 of the biggest booths at IMC in the first Hall. From Maserati'south to VR, Samsung literally had everything that can take advantage of 5G.

Samsung's Continued Car Solution

No, Samsung is not making a cocky-driving car, at to the lowest degree not yet. Instead, the visitor wants to cater to the growing marketplace of connected cars. Samsung's new unnamed device (inset in the first image below) tin can automatically trigger certain deportment inside a connected auto that drives under it.

I of the use-cases, equally explained to me by Samsung'southward sales representatives at the booth is that you can trigger actions such as checking for software upgrades, running malware scans, running maintenance bank check, etc. when you are cruising down some highway. Yes, it sounds vague right at present, just information technology would be awesome to see one of these devices (and the Maserati, of class), as it opens up a lot of opportunities for car-makers to provide a connected motorcar experience.

5G Farm, 5G City, and and so on..

Besides the cool Maserati, Samsung likewise had a ton of other demos to showcase their advancements. They had a setup called 5G Stadium where a bunch of tablets were streaming high-quality sports video simultaneously on the same network. It looked pretty cool, and I must say that I was impressed to see such speeds.

Lastly, Samsung also had a agglomeration of commercial 5G solutions. Honestly, they are style likewise complicated to explain without dedicating a separate article, and I take some other cool things to show, so allow'south motility on.

Ericsson

Ericsson's booth and the demos areas were besides well put together. The applications and the products were neatly presented, and the demos were just impressive to wait at.

5G Takes Center Stage at IMC 2018 As India Gets Ready For Leap in Connectivity

5G Drones

Ericsson had a couple of drones on showcase at their booth. The one shown below is apparently, a paradigm that was used by the field experts to scan a particular expanse and discover points of interest. I wasn't briefed in detail about this, but I was told that the drone can exist controlled from a remote location, thanks to the power of 5G.

I was too given a demo of some other cool 5G applications, but sadly, I wasn't able to capture them. So, hither's a photo of Ericsson's 3D Augmented Reality Demo that's, again, powered by 5G.

SKYSHIP

IMC attendees also got to check out the SKYSHIP, a 5G emergency rescue platform adult past Korea Telecom in association with Samsung and Jio. Every bit you can see, the platform operates a balloon-shaped aircraft, which has a full-fledged mobile communication center on-board. I was told that it tin be used to provide mobility coverage and surveillance for a particular surface area.

Facebook

Facebook was also present at this yr's IMC, nonetheless, it appeared as though the company wasn't showcasing anything new in terms of 5G advancements. Then, I enjoyed myself a demo of the Oculus Go, took a couple of selfies in front of Facebook lens demo, and even ran into the FCC Chairman Ajit Pai hither.

Other 5G Advancements

Besides these companies, a lot of other manufacturers similar Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, Qualcomm, MediaTek, etc. also showcased their next-gen and current products at the venue. Again, most of them were giving a demo of commercial applications, but I managed to capture a few interesting ones.

MediaTek, for 1, had a bunch of its chipsets on showcase. I likewise came across this interesting contraption where MediaTek wanted me to bank check out how accurately the phone powered by the Helio P70 SoC was able to recognize my face up using a dot projector like to the ones used by Apple's Face ID organization.

And so, Are We Ready for 5G Yet?

As pointed out Ericsson India chief Nitin Bansal during our interaction, "We don't say it'due south a revolution – we say it's an evolution". After looking at diverse demos at the IMC venue, I am inclined to believe that 5G is not just about gaining additional data speeds for streaming shows on, say, Netflix. The connectivity advancements will exist apt for commercial applications, connected equipment and machinery, which can really take us towards a Smart Metropolis.

We will exist bringing some more coverage from India Mobile Congress 2018 here in New Delhi in the coming days, and then stay tuned.