5G: technology of the future

5G technology is the answer to constantly increasing data volumes. 5G will allow for further automations in production processes. There are now hardly any limits on autonomous mobility or the expansion of smart home functions in the private sphere.

Realisation of 5G technology

5G technology will not replace the mobile phone standard, but rather will introduce a completely new communication standard. The current mobile phone standard is known as Long Term Evolution (LTE). This technology currently meets almost all the needs of private customers and provides an adequate data rate for everyday applications – this extends up to a maximum of 300 Mbits/s. The introduction of 5G will not mean the end of LTE, but rather a further development in addition to the existing network.

Thanks to the parallel operation of both technologies, in the future it will be possible to handle larger capacities and faster network speeds. The higher bandwidth of 5G as the new communication standard will allow for novel applications and significantly improve the positive experience for customers. Even now billions of people use mobile internet. Experts expect that more than 100 billion networked objects will be added to this number over the course of 2020. The 5G network is the answer to the demands of digitalisation.

5G infrastructure and product orientation

The wide-scale infrastructure for 5G technology will require substantial investment in base stations. Additionally, new opportunities will arise both industrially and privately. In China alone, with its enormous growth potential, the overview is as follows: establishment of approximately 130 000 base stations by the end of 2019 in 50 urban centres. For 2020, the total number of 5G users is expected to reach approximately 70 million, along with a considerable increase in 5G-compatible mobile telephones.

Entering the era of 5G with Saurer

5G mobile communication technology requires a powerful glass fibre infrastructure. Among other materials, lightweight construction reinforcing filaments will be used for this expansion. The additional and greater requirements prompted by 5G also necessitate more functionality when it comes to printed circuit boards. The increasing data flows and multi-functionality of mobile communication devices have to be handled by printed circuit boards of ever-smaller dimensions. The boards used are made exclusively with twisted glass filaments.

The base material required for this is manufactured in the highest quality on the Saurer CakeFormingWinder and on Saurer GlassTwister. Future-ready solutions and innovations in the product portfolio of the GlassTwister VGT8 and VGT9 allow Saurer to keep optimal pace with the constantly advancing developments in the glass filament industry. Specifically, the flexibility of the VGT8 enables our customers to always be one step ahead of all market trends.