How 5G will strengthen AR/VR spaces

The fifth generation of mobile networks launched just before the global pandemic and became an immediate necessity. Tech companies around the world are doing an excellent job of keeping us connected in a time when we are all apart. Now 5G is necessary for businesses and individuals alike. Since we are (hopefully) on the back-end of the pandemic era, the question turns to how 5G can propel other technology areas. Our collective longing for in-person collaboration, especially within design and research spaces, could be settled by introducing 5G to AR/VR.

What about 5G changes AR/VR?

What is 5G?

5G, or the Fifth Generation of mobile networks, is the newest global wireless network technology. Wireless networks started with 1G in the 1980s. It birthed the first adaptation of voice channels, and 2G's use of digital voice strengthened it in the 1990s. Digital voice would scramble a signal, such as a voice on a phone call, and reassemble it on the other end allowing for less interference from different frequencies. 3G, in the early 2000s, introduced mobile data—combining the internet with mobile networks. 4G LTE strengthened data with broadband in the 2010s.

“5G introduces a cleaner, unified connection to mobile networks; it utilizes OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing) technology to streamline services on long, mid, and short frequencies, including sub-6 GHz and mmWave. Since multiple frequencies use it, it can connect devices on a united front rather than separate waves, leaving room for more interference.

A device's connectivity has been weighted in exchange for its performance from 1G to WiFi and Bluetooth and now 4G LTE. The mass migration of the Internet of Things—physical objects such as phones and computers embedded with wireless technology to connect with other devices—to 5G, which reaches 100 gigabits per second at its peak currently, allows for a lesser threshold between this trade-off of performance and connectivity.

Streamlining AR/VR through 5G

The primary purpose of AR/VR is gaming—immersion, and connection through augmented and virtual reality. For many of us, the first virtual worlds sucked us in was via a screen with either a controller or keyboard and mouse. Our love poured from the seams when we could unsheathe the Master Sword from the Great Deku Tree. Imagine now that you are not looking at that on a screen but physically pulling the sword out of the stone; this is the power of AR/VR—the next step in realizing imagination. Already we can connect to others in the AR/VR sphere in gaming, but the question remains: can we propel 5G into even more spaces?

AR/VR launched forward through Qualcomm's Snapdragon RX2 by use of a 5G enabled chipset. 5G's insertion into the AR/VR space will propel it forward into the business space as well, with many companies looking into virtual training, collaborative virtual workspaces, and launching it into the mass market. With 4G LTE, it was challenging to create a collaboration room in the virtual world with others, not in the same room. Programs like Spatial on 5G will streamline in-room AR collaboration rather than have it as a luxury.

The possibilities are endless—from large projects such as training programs that connect employees worldwide to visiting relatives when physical contact is scarce. 5G implementation into AR/VR allows the dream of a hyper-connected world to no longer seem so far off.