IoT Insider Podcast | Episode 10: GlobeCom 2019 IoT tech reveals and 5G latest

Dan Cunliffe
Welcome, everybody to our first podcast of 2020. My name is Dan Cunliffe Managing Director of Pangea. I hope you had a great festive time. It’s probably time to stop saying Happy New Year, but I will say Happy New Year to my esteemed guest who joins me today. Our resident 5G expert Dr. Arslan Usman joins us here. Hi, doctor.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Hi, Dan. Thanks for having me. Happy New Year to everyone. So recently, in December, we were in Hawaii for the GlobeCom Conference 2019.

Dan Cunliffe
Not for Christmas, not for Christmas. The GlobeCom Conference 2019.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. And for those of you who don’t know about GlobeCom 2019, it’s called Global Communications Conference. And its flagship conference of IEEE. IEEE is the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and it’s stationed in United States. And it’s the biggest research public share in the domain of Electrical and Electronics, and essentially telecommunications as well. So I was there to present our project, which is about 5G enabled healthcare and ambulances. Yep.

Dan Cunliffe
Oh, you know what? So today’s podcast is really to talk about GlobeCom 2019. What it means, who was there, and maybe what our partners can get out of it. So you know, let’s jump straight into it. Tell me, obviously, the presentation, I assume in very well, you’re gonna tell us in a second. But your goal was there to present the project that we’ve been working on to some of the most, you know, interesting people in the world of 5G, including some investors how’d it go?

Dr. Arslan Usman
So my presentation was the very first day. And it was a whole session from 9am to 3pm. And I was lucky in some way that I was able to chair that session as well, because the actual chairperson for the session couldn’t make it. And they requested me to do that. So the project was about 5G enabled healthcare and ambulances. And I presented it to a different panel that was from different research domains. And it was there were some researchers from industry as well. And the sponsors, such as Qualcomm, Intel, Huawei, there were people from those companies as well.

Dan Cunliffe
Yeah, so the big guys were there representing.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. And the aim of GlobeCom 2019 is to see what kind of technologies will shape the future. So I received very good feedback from different panellists and from different attendees. And it just made my commitment and faith stronger in in our project and what we’re going to do there.

Dan Cunliffe
Yeah, I think it’s great to get that level of credibility from such a wide audience around 5G, especially with the project we’re working on. And for those who’ve listened the podcast before, we have spoken about the project quite a bit, and we’ll continue to talk about the project as we kind of, you know, go on into 2020 and beyond, really focus on it. Okay. Tell me a little bit about the Tech Roundup. You know, GlobeCom is supposed to be like the Superbowl of the whole sort of, you know, technology coming together and sort of aptly time to be in Hawaii, because last year, it was in Munich, or at least 2018. It was in Munich. So you know, very fast and different place to go to but tell me a little bit about who was presenting what technology do they have to show off anything that really kind of flows the boat.

Dr. Arslan Usman
So there there were two different tracks in GlobeCom. First one was about academia and the second one was about industry. Okay. So we were mostly industry based, and we were interested in what the industry has to offer in terms of connectivity and communications. So the very first day was about different workshops about wireless communication and fixed connecting. The second day was about fixed line and internet. So that day, the chairman was Latif Ladid, who is IPv6 Forum president and founder. He’s a big guy. He has a big name when it comes to IPv6. And he had guests from HP, from Next Generation Internet Japan, and Internet Society Japan. So they were mainly speaking about how IPv6 is important in terms of migration from IPv4 to IPv6, and also about how industries should start doing that. And how dual stack IP configuration between IPv4 and IPv6 can be done.

Dan Cunliffe
And that stuff’s pretty important, because there’s been so much concern about the sort of, you know, struggles with IPv4 and the limitations as we start to add more and more devices, and hence, the IPv6, but just the sheer ability to look at a migration path must be a very interesting topic.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Oh, yes, it was. It was very interesting specially for the key players, the key industries that were there, the businesses that were there, that are looking forward to move from IPv4 to IPv6.

Dan Cunliffe
So tell me a little bit about the types of migration you mentioned to me before we started the podcast about actually, when you’re looking at a deal stack model, you could have percentages, I guess, that you want to move at certain times, you don’t have to do all at once. Therefore allowing companies to, I suppose, manage their costs better during their migration?

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. So when we talk about migration, it essentially means that your hardware or the capabilities that you have in your network infrastructure, they’re ready to move towards IPv6. Yeah. But that comes with a lot of cost, of course. So if you’re not really, you don’t really want to 100% convert to IPv6. So what you can do is have a dual stack integration, let’s say 30% of your network moves to IPv6 and rest of the 70% stays on IPv4 that is possible.

Dan Cunliffe
Basically maintaining the cost. All right, excellent. Anything else? That sort of stood out for you?

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. So then, the next day, we had a session about next generation wireless networks, okay. And we had Qualcomm’s Research Director, Intel’s Research Director and Chief technologists they were there. And the main theme of the wireless communication part was how 5G is going to change the way we perceive wireless communication. How it differentiates itself from 4G, the unique use cases of 5G? And there were some discussions about the backhaul network. So we always hear a lot about the front end use cases. But we sometimes we don’t really hear about backhaul. Yeah. So it was more about how fibre communication in backhaul will be or might be replaced by microwave communication.

Dan Cunliffe
Interesting. And that sort of brings that massive, I guess, question or the conundrum between when do I use what we perceive 5G to bring us versus using existing Ethernet fibre services? So fixed versus mobile, right, that’s been going on for a long time, and especially for the partners out there. In our channel, it’s a lot about well, actually, when will or when could or if mobile technology will surpass fixed technology, a lot of the ways and it’s interesting, if you think then like when the backhaul side might be more important, rather than, you know, the microwave side, the sort of after, you know, the sort of front end of that piece?

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. So in terms of backhaul connectivity, what happens is we require because it’s a lot of control signalling, yep. So we require massively high data rates. And that was enabled mostly through fixed connectivity. But because in backhaul microwave communication is the microwave communication can be done using high frequencies, which essentially allow higher data rates. So that was the main theme. Yeah, that there could be again, just like IPv6 and IPv4 dual stack. Yeah, we could have a backhaul configuration that consists of both fibre optics and microwave communication.

Dan Cunliffe
Was there any kind of reference to Europe or UK particularly around that, or were they just really speaking at a global level?

Dr. Arslan Usman
So it was as it was in Hawaii? Yeah. So they had so they had president of the main University, the Central University in Hawaii. Okay. And he gave references mostly about Hawaii itself. Okay. Yeah. So they’re right now they’re working on some projects, which will replace the fixed connectivity. Okay, cool.

Dan Cunliffe
All right. Well, we’ll move on a bit from there. So tell me a bit about the other side. Like what do you think was some of the most you know, some of the coolest most standout tech on display or maybe even a demo you saw that you thought? Wow, that’s actually pretty interesting.

Dr. Arslan Usman
So in GlobeCom 2019 there are many demos going on. And they were, of course, all revolving around communications and connectivity. But as there are parallel sessions, lots of parallel sessions, so you can only go to one or two. So for me, the most outstanding one was Ultra High Definition video streaming, over the latest standard of Wi-Fi. And it was based on one of the core technologies of 5G that I have previously we have spoken about it in one of our podcasts is the Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), which allows very high data rates up to 10 times the data rates of 4G.

Dan Cunliffe
Yeah, if anyone wants to Google that, could they look for the acronym of NOMA?

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. It’s commonly known as NOMA. Yes, so NOMA, what it does is it allows simultaneous communication between two or multiple end users using the same time and frequency. Right. So for those of you who know about 4G, you either use the same time domain, or you use the same frequency, you cannot use the same both of them same in a single timeslot. So in Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), somehow, with minor tweaks and 5G magic, what they allow is that you can have multiple users with same time and frequency. So this allows manifold increase in throughput and bandwidth.

Dan Cunliffe
Well, and that probably is why the demo shows Ultra High Definition video, etc.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yeah. So during the session, they showed, so their hardware was mostly based on, it was software defined, okay, so it was not actual hardware, they had software’s embedded in their laptops. But you could easily see the difference between the same video being displayed on a legacy infrastructure. And then on a 5G, essentially Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) infrastructure, you could easily see the difference between both in terms of quality.

Dan Cunliffe
And that’s one of the strengths of, I guess, 5G coming to the fore and the real importance of what it can bring, again, probably for the, for the partners, and mostly in the telecoms sector here in the UK. Cloud products, unified comms products, video, and of course, Voice over IP, these things will play straight into that type of demo, being able to use, you know, multiple time frequency combination is actually pretty awesome.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. So in Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), one good thing is that you don’t really, all the devices don’t really have to be 5G enabled, okay, there can be 4G enabled devices as well. So this there, there was some concerns in the audience that, okay, it has to be a 5G enabled device or a device that has to work according to Non-orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA). So, as an answer to that, what they did is they used a legacy device as well, and showed the same results.

Dan Cunliffe
Got it. That’s actually pretty awesome. So backwards compatibility, really, yes. I like it. Well, you know, one of the things that is important for our business is, you know, investing and having yourself available to go and present at GlobeCom 2019 hopefully it starts to give us more and more credibility in the 5G space, and any of our partners, considering their own 5G strategy. You know, please do get in touch with us. We can talk more about it. But tell me what did you think GlobeCom 2019, What sort of impact would GlobeCom itself have not just for Pangea, but maybe beyond Pangea?

Dr. Arslan Usman
So GlobeCom 2019 was if I talk about wireless communication, GlobeCom 2019 was mostly about how 5G differentiates itself from 4G. Yeah, so there were lightning talks for 10 – 15 minutes. And all of them were emphasising that if 5G is only about massive data rates, that essentially it will provide massive data rates that is certain, but it’s not really a differentiating factor between 4G and 5G.

Dan Cunliffe
Being faster isn’t necessarily better.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Yes. So in 5G, the unique use cases that is specifically about Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication, that will enable critical services such as Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), V2X standard health care healthcare industry, that is all about Ultra Reliability, then we can move towards IoT connectivity. So yes, Narrowband IoT will bring in connectivity of up to 100,000 devices per square kilometre. But when we talk about 5G and about massive IoT or Massive Machine-Type Communication (MMTC), then it’s about a million devices per square kilometre.

Dan Cunliffe
And that’s one of the things I think that a lot of people I just don’t know at the moment, right, because obviously most of the 5G related market info has been directed at consumers. And a lot of it’s been about faster. But actually, the other two sides is about vast improvements in latency with, you know, aiming to get sort of down below 10. And maybe as close to single digit milliseconds on latencies. And as you said, the Massive Machine-Type Communication (MMTC) doing a million devices per square kilometre, outstripping current Narrowband, but these things are in the future, but they are clearly part of the strategy for what 5G can deliver. What do you think? What do you think it meant for our own brand as well, being able to talk at a GlobeCom 2019 talk about your project?

Dr. Arslan Usman
So one thing was that as our business is mostly revolving around IoT, and connectivity and IoT, so the audience there was mostly from the business from I cannot name some general partners, but there were many there are many companies who were highly interested in how this kind of project will emphasise or highlight the use cases of 5G. Yeah, so that was the the, because the project itself is has too many technical details. But when you highlight the part that okay, this is the outcome, and 5G can enable that. So that was the key factor.

Dan Cunliffe
Okay, just looking to kind of round it up and sort of bring it back. Besides improving, you know, your surf skills out in Hawaii. And what else do you think we can do, you know, GlobeCom’s really well known for predicting some of the future trends. We like to bring our partners key information that other guys don’t bring them, especially on where they should be investing their time, or where they should be going about trying to change the game for themselves. What do you What would you say are some of the key takeaways for the partners?

Dr. Arslan Usman
So I would say it’s mostly about 5G vertical markets. Okay. So 5G has many markets associated to it, including, as I mentioned earlier about V2X Communication. And Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I).

Dan Cunliffe
So Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) Communication.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Any infrastructure at all. So it can be Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) or Vehicle to Human (V2H) in any kind of communication. Then about IoT, about Massive IoT, healthcare industry. That is also the focus for us as well, regarding the project about 5G enabled healthcare in ambulances. So our partners should, I think, think about the vertical industries associated with 5G.

Dan Cunliffe
Yeah, well, you know, a lot of vertical industries. Right. You know, if I was to add to that, I’d say you’re gonna get way more focus on your construction, your movable assets that can now in the future get far higher data rates, but also the improvements in the latency. Very excited to see what 5G could bring to our pre Ethernet products in the future. And helping people get not only a more resilient and quicker deployment, but actually a much more higher throughput as well as something I think our partners will definitely take advantage of in the near future. All right, the my thanks to to the doctor for joining us, after his GlobeCom 2019 expedition in Hawaii.

Dr. Arslan Usman
Thanks, Dan, for having me thanks a lot.

Dan Cunliffe
More than a pleasure. And for those of you who want to learn a bit more, please head over to our blog for IoT tech guide, sector insights or you know what, give us a call if you want to start preparing for your 5G story or your 5G strategy. I look forward to you joining us again. My name is Dan Cunliffe Managing Director of Pangea. Thank you very much.