5G plugs wings for digital transformation (technological perspective)
Since its official commercialization for a year, my country's 5G development has entered the fast lane.
As of the end of September, 690,000 5G base stations have been opened nationwide, and the 2020 5G base station construction target has been completed ahead of schedule.
At present, my country has basically achieved prefecture-level 5G network coverage.
With the continuous expansion of industry applications and the acceleration of industry coordination, 5G is changing people's production and life.
How does 5G empower digital transformation?
What challenges still need to be broken through?
This reporter interviewed industry experts.
5G construction continues to reach a new level, boosting the integration of various networks, technologies, and applications into production and life
Holding an operating handle that looks like a game in his hand, Peng Qiwen, a post-90s technician at the Cold Rolling Plant of Guangxi Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd., sits in the 5G innovation studio.
He touched the handle button with his finger, and controlled the display on the large screen. The smart loader has easily lifted the heavy roll and transported it to the grinder...With the blessing of 5G technology, it used to require 3 people to complete a single lifting work. Now one person can do it remotely.
The delay is as low as 1 to 5 milliseconds, the download rate is as high as 1.2Gbps (gigabits per second), the first-view high-definition video, real-time monitoring of the loader...In the pickling workshop of the cold rolling mill Ying believes that 5G has brought him a new work experience: it not only guarantees the accuracy of remote control, but also improves the working environment. It can also realize one person to control two loaders, which greatly improves work efficiency.
With the help of a high-bandwidth, low-latency, and widely-connected communication network, cold rolling mills with 5G wings are now overcoming many technical problems.
Like Peng Qiwen's experience, 5G is helping to integrate various networks, technologies and applications into production and life, and reach the people.
Since its official commercialization one year, my country's 5G construction has reached a new level, and the number of base stations constructed and the coverage area have ranked first in the world.
With the joint efforts of telecom operators, equipment manufacturers, and industry enterprises, the application of 5G in various industries is accelerating, and the information and communication infrastructure represented by it has gradually played a strong role in promoting digital and intelligent transformation.
"Compared with 4G, the transmission rate of 5G is increased by 10 to 100 times, the peak rate reaches 10Gbps, the delay is as low as 1 millisecond, and it can achieve 1 million connections per square kilometer. This corresponds to the three major technical scenarios, namely enhancement Mobile broadband, large-scale mobile communications, high reliability and low latency.” Yu Shaohua, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, predicts that 5G technology is expected to be the first to be applied in the fields of ultra-high broadband personal consumption, car networking, remote control, industrial Internet, and urban smarts.
"1G to 4G solves the problem of people-to-people connections, and 5G opens the era of the Internet of Everything." According to Guo Ping, Huawei’s rotating chairman, in the 5G era, connections are undergoing tremendous changes, which will also bring information and communications to the industry. Come new opportunities.
“Information and communication technology must be integrated with the industry to find landing scenarios to create value. When these scenarios are brought together, the overall development blueprint for 5G can be gradually drawn.”
"Looking back at the 3G era, the emergence of 3G networks and smart terminals has inspired mobile internet applications such as social media and e-commerce, leading us into the era of mobile internet; as 4G networks have gradually matured, short video, live broadcast and other consumer-level applications have been born. Applications, as well as vertical applications such as online education, have produced models such as the “fan economy” and “knowledge payment”.” Huawei’s senior vice president and president of China Lu Yong believes that China’s 5G development has already seen a vigorous trend in all walks of life. , Will once again improve the efficiency of social operations and promote the transformation of economic models.
5G connectivity must be combined with industry information systems to truly generate value
Shanghai Kangqiao Logistics Park occupies an area of 100,000 square meters. In the past, it took at least one month to complete a manual inventory. Now more than 20 business systems have been opened through 5G and other technologies, and the overall operation efficiency has increased by 30%; in 2019, Shenzhen Airport During the daily peak hours, an aircraft took off and landed in less than one minute on average. With 5G and other technologies integrated, Shenzhen Airport has constructed a number of sub-scenarios, reducing ferrying by more than 2.6 million people throughout the year, and improving security inspection efficiency by 60%; In the ports of Xiamen, Ningbo and other places, the driver has realized 5G remote gantry crane and tire crane operation, saying goodbye to the small working space...
In the past year of commercial use of 5G, application innovation has continued to expand.
Judging from the current industrial innovation practice of 5G, whether it is remote control, image recognition, or drone applications, it can really promote the digital transformation and intelligent upgrade of the industry. Only relying on 5G connectivity is far If it is not enough, it must be combined with the industry information system to truly generate value.
Wen Ku, Director of the Department of Information and Communication Development of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said: “We should focus on application innovation such as 5G, deeply explore the needs of vertical industries, and encourage the information and communication industry to change from industries, transportation, medical, energy, education and other industries. Large-scale and deeper collaborative innovation, constantly enriching application scenarios, and building a wide-ranging application ecosystem."
Yin Hao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out: "5G development should not be a technology alone, but should work with cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, blockchain, edge computing and other information and communication technologies to promote the upgrading of traditional industries. , Incubating new applications, and spawning new business formats.” Lu Yong also said: “5G is an information connection platform for the intelligent world, and an “middleware” for the intelligent transformation of the industry. It must be combined with other technologies and must be integrated with the industry. Grasp the industry entry point."
Peng Zhongyang, a director of Huawei and the president of enterprise BG, believes that to promote the digitalization of the industry, it must be realized through scenario-based innovation.
"There are three key elements to realize the digitization of scenes. The first is to have the technology, to be good at integrating multiple information and communication technologies with core business; the second is to understand the industry, to respect the industry, to have a deep insight into the industry, and to understand the industry knowledge; and finally It is'true practice', exploring and creating in practice."
"Users need not only 5G, but what practical problems can be solved in the process of 5G technology conversion." said Dong Ming, vice president of Huawei China.
Wenku believes that 5G is a very challenging "blue ocean" involving many emerging fields.
In the future, the potential of 5G in stabilizing investment, promoting consumption, facilitating upgrades, and cultivating new drivers of economic development will be further revealed.
The development of domestic 5G still faces challenges in terms of cost and application, and it is necessary to design a more mature business model to achieve a reasonable distribution of value and benefits
In May of this year, Guangdong Province proposed to build the first batch of 8 “5G+Industrial Internet” application demonstration parks; Shanxi Province proposed that by the end of this year, there will be 2 5G+ smart mine demonstration projects and 15 by the end of 2022... Important arrangements have been made to speed up the construction of new infrastructure, and 5G has been clarified as one of the key directions, and many departments and localities have launched construction plans.
In the past year of commercial use of 5G, a series of industrial policies have been introduced.
The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have issued 7 5G innovation application enhancement projects in vertical fields including healthcare, education, and power. At the same time, they have proposed a number of specific measures such as accelerating network deployment and enriching application scenarios; multiple provinces have issued 5G special construction plans and industry promotion The action plan is to promote the integration of 5G applications with local economies and accelerate the accumulation of 5G industries.
At the same time, the 5G industry ecology has also developed rapidly.
In 2019, my country's 5G mobile phones accounted for 3.5% of the total mobile phone market shipments, and as of September this year, the proportion reached 47.7%; in the Everest region, my country has built the world's highest 5G base station to achieve 5G coverage on the top of Mount Everest; In Shanxi Yangquan Coal Mine, effective 5G coverage of the world's deepest 534m underground mine was achieved.
During the coordinated promotion of epidemic prevention and control and the resumption of work and production, applications such as epidemic prevention big data, telemedicine, and remote classrooms have been realized relying on the new generation of information and communication infrastructure.
"From the national level, we have used various departments and the whole society to promote the development of information and communication infrastructure, and formulated the moderately advanced principle of'preferring to wait on the road instead of waiting on the road'." Wenku said, "With technology and Network upgrades, advanced deployment of network infrastructure, and doubling of network speed. These indicators are still very impressive."
What cannot be ignored is that the current domestic 5G development still faces problems such as high network construction and operating costs and imperfect billing mechanisms. There are not enough application scenarios and security issues that need to be overcome.
For example, in the process of large-scale 5G deployment, it is faced with problems such as difficulty in obtaining base station sites and high entry costs.
For this reason, some places focus on the intensive use of resources, implement 5G site resource opening, and vigorously develop smart light poles.
In terms of reducing electricity costs, some places are also accelerating the conversion of 5G base stations from power supply to direct power supply, using various methods to reduce base station electricity costs.
When talking about how to promote industry applications, Lu Yong suggested that we should first determine which scenarios have first-mover advantages and rigid needs, focus on making efforts, and be thorough; we must design a more mature business model to achieve a reasonable distribution of value and benefits. Avoiding homogeneous competition can form value protection for the overall industry participants.
Dong Ming believes that innovation requires companies to have continuous R&D capabilities and improvement capabilities, and they should follow the "value pricing principle" to support future 5G network construction.
For example, he said that applications in the field of Internet of Vehicles have high requirements for coverage and capacity, which can achieve "value pricing", that is: pricing service guarantees, rather than pricing based on simple connections.
"Including latency features, functional features, etc., even for more precise positioning and lower latency, higher prices can be achieved."
"my country has high-quality soil for the development of 5G, including the largest user groups, top operators and communication manufacturers, as well as leading mobile Internet and industry information application foundations, and high-quality innovation ecology." Lu Yong believes that this will all my country's 5G industry innovation and coordinated development provide good development advantages.
Our reporter Gu Yekai