Advanced applications related to 5G will explode in 2020

In 2020, advanced applications related to 5G, will explode, using higher frequencies and smaller geometries. New classes and labs for design and simulation, over the air testing, antenna systems and measurements will be incorporated into the core engineering curriculum. New measurement science (hardware, software and calibration) will be developed and made part of mainstream offerings. Developers of new electronic products and solutions will use different tools, specifications and terminology to specify and validate their designs.

The use of software in implementing technology will remain prevalent, especially in networking and position or navigation-based smartphone applications this year. As a result, software-on-software measurement will see a strong surge and therefore, so will emphasis on interoperability among software tool chains. New standards and certifications will be created, impacting development processes, as well as the marketing required to ensure consumers are aware of what a software-centric product can and cannot do.

There will be a substantial rise in specialized processors, such as GPUs and chips, that implement Artificial Intelligence or AI architectures which determine how a network processes and routes information and maintains security, privacy, and integrity. Quantum computing and engineering will continue to be in an aggressive hype phase in 2020, but the ability to control, measure, and error-correct quantum systems as the number of qubits grows will be important from the start.

As measurement and operation of the computer blends, those interested in building practical quantum computers will require knowledge about measurement technologies and techniques before the quantum computing goes into the mainstream.

In 2020, companies will start connecting these silos of data using modern cloud architectures, such as private on-premises clusters, or public sites like AWS or Azure. With the data centrally available, teams will correlate performance through the development process, from early design to manufacturing to field deployment and close the loop back to design. The benefits for these teams include the rapid collection and reformatting of data, faster debugging of new product design, anticipation of manufacturing issues, and improved product quality.

To achieve these gains, teams will invest in a computing infrastructure, determine how to store the data, including file location and data structure, as well as choose analytic tools to select and process data to identify anomalies and trends. In addition, teams will change the way they work to shift attention to data-driven decisions.

Apart from that, new 5G capabilities in 2020 will put pressure on networks, revealing new data center and network chokepoints. 5G represents technical evolution and revolution on many fronts creating new technical challenges that span many domains. IoT will rapidly move into the mainstream with widening commercial acceptance, increasing public-sector applications and accelerated industrial deployments.

The quantity and sophistication of sensors deployed in vehicles will increase in 2020, but fully autonomous vehicles will require more ubiquitous 5G connectivity and more artificial intelligence. The connected world will force a shift in how performance, reliability, and integrity are evaluated.