IEEE Microwave Magazine - June 2015 - 18

metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) wireless cloud offices, multiperson
radio streaming video from smart- video calling, autonomous/connected
vehicles, augmented and virtual reality,
phones to large-screen televisions.
At MWC, 5G was the big commu- and real-time applications like remote
nications technology trend that was surgery and gaming. For the billions
of future IoT devices, 5G
highlighted. There seem
to be two different preNew radios that will provide connectivity to hubs, gateways,
vailing views of what 5G
servers, and the cloud.
really is. To the operators, will operate
There are many active
5G is the evolution of from 6 GHz
research projects by all
pre-existing technoloto as high as
the major telecom leadgies, including second
ers in Europe, Asia, and
generation, third genera- 300 GHz may
North America that are
tion, fourth generation, be needed
all competing to demonWi-Fi, Bluetooth, and
for handset
strate and eventually deWiMax, that will enable
ploy 5G systems starting
further growth in cov- and backhaul
in the early 2020s. New
erage, availability, and connectivity.
radios that will operate
number of connected
devices to support machine-to-machine from 6 GHz to as high as 300 GHz may
and IoT connectivity. The other defini- be needed for handset and backhaul
tion of 5G focuses on the creation of the connectivity. Beam-forming and masnext-generation radio access technol- sive multiple-input, multiple-output
ogy: 1-10-Gb/s real-world data rates and technologies will also be needed to in1-ms latency. The 5G use cases include crease the directivity and the aggregate

bandwidths of the base-station signal to
the mobile handsets.
Many technology trend watchers
predict that, by 2020, we will have more
than 50 billion connected devices as a
part of the IoT. The IoT system consists
of three technology domains: 1) sensors,
2) connectivity, and 3) applications. The
IoT applications will be for the home
(consumer), transport (mobility), health
(body), smart grid (energy), buildings
(infrastructure), factories (industrial),
and cities (utilities and security).
It is the underlying hardware that
enables the sensing functions that
bring the smartness to the devices, and
it is the wireless transmission of data
between devices and the back-end intelligence that act on the acquired sensor
data (e.g., temperature, pressure, speed,
acceleration, global positioning system
location, heart rate, respiration rate, and
energy consumption) to bring about a
response that optimizes productivity,
conservation, and better quality of life.
With all the heightened expectations,
there are many challenges that the hardware community must meet to invent
new devices and technologies that must
be smaller, lighter, more efficient, and
lower cost than ever before if the IoT and
the 5G revolutions are to happen.
The size, weight, power, and cost
demands for the IoT/5G ecosystems
will force the creation of a new paradigm for the hardware. These metrics
must be improved by factors of 10-100
to make the IoT realizable. If today's
hardware costs US$10 per piece for a
market of 100 million devices, then
the same function may have to be well
under US$1 to address a 20-50 billion
device market. Most electrical devices
today have ready access to prime power
to energize their circuits. In the IoT
world, there are many use cases where
connecting the device to the wall outlet or changing/charging the battery
is a showstopper. Therefore, improved
power efficiency, smart power management, energy harvesting, and wireless
power transmission will all need to be
investigated and made viable for IoT/5G
applications. In today's hardware, milliwatt dissipation may be sufficient.
(continued on page 22)

June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Microwave Magazine - June 2015