5G is not only mobile phones and antennas

Together with high-capacity fixed networks, 5G will provide the connectivity needed for our country’s digital transformation.

With respect to previous generations, 5G continues an evolutionary path: its new radio improves performance in terms of speed, latency, terminal density and power consumption. However, the real novelty of 5G is the revolution it entails in terms of creating and facilitating new and diversified services and enabling new non-human users; the latter are already more numerous than human ones. Thanks to its software network and full integration with the cloud, 5G will enable new use scenarios, with a significant impact in every sector: agriculture, commerce, defence, energy, finance, health, industry, media, public administration, safety, transport, tourism.

Therefore, the interest in 5G is not only in the new phones and radio interface, but in what lies behind the radio interface, core network, edge cloud and cloud, and in the functionalities that reside in the layers above the physical one. The union of these two enablers, new radio and software network, will give rise to an epochal change, also in terms of skills required to the technicians of the sector.

The first edition of 5G Italy (https://www.5gitaly.eu/2020/) was dedicated to Technology Trials, the second one to Possible Applications, this third edition will deal with Implementation and Deployment issues.

Indeed, it is time to focus on the realization aspects of this fundamental infrastructure. 5G phones are now on the market, both Android and Apple iOS, also helping to overcome a negative sentiment towards electromagnetic radiations; these radiations, we recall, may decrease in their maximum and average values, and legal thresholds, by increasing the number of antenna sites and therefore of cells. It remains to fully implement the network in all of its components.

In light of the ongoing pandemic and the need to relaunch the Italian economy, we will also talk about 5G and NextGenerationEU, an opportunity for growth linked to our Italian ability to produce innovative projects and implement new enabling services and applications.

In addition to the main conference, 5G Italy also includes a PhD school, scientific sessions and, new this year, “CNIT talks”, short (10 minutes) tutorials on 5G and 6G topics. The book created last year remains available (https://www.5gitaly.eu/2019/en/5g-italy-book-2/); it provides a description of the multiple aspects of 5G technology and documents the research and development work carried out in Italy.

CNIT (https://www.cnit.it/en/) is honoured by the participation in this event of authorities and qualified representatives of organizations and companies in the sector and hopes that it will contribute to further stimulate the interest of our country towards this fundamental technology.

The Director of CNIT (https://www.cnit.it/en/)
Nicola Blefari Melazzi, Università di Roma Tor Vergata (https://blefari.eln.uniroma2.it/en/)