5G Technology in the Internet of Things: Capabilities, Limitations and Design Considerations

When implementing 5G mobile networks to integrate into the internet of things, there are a lot of exciting and headline grabbing capabilities such as increased connectivity, low latency and high data rates. This paper discusses how 5G can support different needs of the IoT with enhanced mobile broadband, massive machine type communications and ultra reliable low latency communications. It also looks at features such as edge computing, network slicing, private networks and the Reduced Capability (RedCap) devices. This work uses a narrative review of standards and peer reviewed literature to examine how 5G can best be used. This shows that 5G has most benefit when there is a specific reason why wide area mobility, quality of service and/or local computing is needed. It may not always be a low cost, low power solution for simple sensors. Coverage, power usage, interoperability, cost throughout the lifetime of the IoT and security must also be considered. This paper provides a framework for choosing a solution and areas to research for more realistic 5G IoT implementations