When most people hear “5G,” they probably think about smartphones.
That makes sense. Mobile carriers spent years advertising 5G as the technology that would make phones faster, downloads quicker and streaming smoother.
But smartphones are only one part of the story.
5G was designed to connect a much wider range of machines. Its combination of high bandwidth, relatively low latency and support for large numbers of connected devices makes it useful in factories, farms, transportation networks and other environments where ordinary Wi-Fi may not be practical.
Private 5G networks are particularly important. Instead of connecting to a public cellular network, a factory, mine or other organization can operate a dedicated cellular network across its property.
Ericsson already lists autonomous vehicles, robots, remote-controlled equipment, drones, sensors and computer-vision systems among the applications being deployed on private cellular networks.
So what can actually connect to 5G besides a phone?
Some of the answers are surprisingly large.
1. Farm Tractors Can Use 5G
A tractor might be one of the last things someone would associate with a cellular network.
Modern agricultural machinery, however, is becoming remarkably computerized.
A smart tractor can contain cameras, GPS/GNSS equipment, radar, LiDAR, soil sensors and electronic controls for implements such as plows and sprayers.
Connecting those systems through 5G can allow information to travel between the tractor, farm infrastructure and remote operators.
Some systems go considerably further.
A tractor can potentially be controlled remotely or operate autonomously while transmitting live information back to the farmer.
Real-world agricultural trials have already demonstrated the concept. GSMA documented a China Mobile and ZTE project using 5G to automate farming across approximately 12,000 acres in China. The system incorporated remote-controlled agricultural machinery, drones and smart irrigation.
One worker could remotely control multiple machines.
That is much more interesting than simply putting Netflix inside a tractor.
Why Would a Tractor Need 5G Instead of Wi-Fi?
Coverage is the obvious problem.
A farm can cover enormous amounts of land.
Installing conventional Wi-Fi access points across every field may be impractical.
Private cellular networks can provide another option.
5G also becomes useful when machinery needs to transmit substantial amounts of information.
A remotely operated tractor might send multiple camera feeds while simultaneously receiving control commands.
Latency matters too.
If someone remotely controls a large piece of machinery, a significant delay between moving a control and seeing the machine respond would be problematic.
Researchers testing unmanned agricultural tractors have specifically identified 5G’s low latency and high capacity as useful characteristics for remote vehicle control and surveillance.
That means future farm workers may spend less time sitting inside tractors and more time supervising fleets of machines.
2. Drones Can Connect Directly to 5G
Consumer drones typically communicate through dedicated radio links or Wi-Fi-like connections.
Industrial drones have different requirements.
Imagine inspecting miles of electrical infrastructure.
Monitoring crops across a huge farm.
Searching for people after a natural disaster.
Inspecting an enormous industrial site.
In those situations, the drone may need to operate much farther from its controller while continuously transmitting high-resolution video.
That is where cellular connectivity becomes interesting.
Qualcomm developed its Flight RB5 5G platform specifically around this idea. The platform combines AI processing with 5G and Wi-Fi 6 and is designed to support long-range connectivity and applications including flights beyond visual line of sight.
Qualcomm Flight RB5 5G drone platform
Instead of maintaining a direct short-range radio connection with the pilot, a drone can potentially communicate through cellular infrastructure.
That dramatically changes where unmanned aircraft could operate.
5G Drones Can Send Huge Amounts of Visual Data
Modern industrial drones are flying sensor platforms.
They may carry ordinary cameras.
Thermal cameras.
Multispectral agricultural sensors.
LiDAR.
Infrared equipment.
Other specialized imaging systems.
All of that produces data.
Agricultural research has highlighted 5G-connected UAVs as a way to perform near-real-time crop monitoring using RGB, thermal, multispectral, hyperspectral and LiDAR sensors.
A drone could fly over crops, identify signs of disease and transmit detailed imagery back for AI analysis.
Another drone could inspect electrical lines.
Another could survey a disaster zone.
GSMA has also demonstrated autonomous 5G drones for warehouse inventory and outdoor surveillance, using the network for real-time video, analytics and coordination between autonomous machines.
The smartphone may therefore be one of the least interesting flying-device applications for 5G.
3. Robot Dogs and Factory Robots Can Run on 5G
Robots create an unusual networking problem.
A stationary industrial robot can simply use a wired connection.
A mobile robot cannot.
Autonomous mobile robots travel around warehouses and factories carrying parts, inspecting equipment or performing repetitive jobs.
Wi-Fi can handle many of these applications.
Private 5G provides another option when companies need predictable coverage, mobility and network performance across large industrial facilities.
Ericsson describes autonomous mobile robots as one of the major applications for private 5G smart factories. These machines can use sensors and AI to navigate independently and deliver materials between workstations.
Even quadruped robots—the machines often described as robot dogs—can use cellular connectivity.
Why would a robot dog need it?
Imagine sending one into an industrial facility that is unsafe for humans.
The robot can carry cameras and sensors.
A remote operator can see what it sees.
Data can be streamed back for analysis.
The robot can inspect equipment without putting a person in the hazardous environment.
Now the network is not simply providing internet access.
It is helping separate a human worker from physical danger.
5G Can Move Some of the Robot’s “Brain” Off the Robot
This could become even more important as robots become more intelligent.
Powerful AI requires substantial computing resources.
Putting all of that computing hardware directly inside a small mobile robot adds weight, heat and power consumption.
A fast network creates another possibility.
Some processing can happen elsewhere.
The robot collects information.
5G sends it to an edge-computing system.
Powerful computers analyze it.
Instructions return to the robot.
If communication happens quickly enough, the machine can behave as though much more computing power is onboard than it actually carries.
That concept could eventually make lighter and cheaper robots possible.
It also helps explain why AI, edge computing and 5G are frequently discussed together.
4. Construction Equipment Can Be Operated Over 5G
Now imagine something considerably heavier than a robot.
An excavator.
Remote-controlled heavy machinery is another application being explored through cellular networks.
Deloitte previously documented a Japanese example where an operator located in a Tokyo office could control mechanical digging equipment at a construction site tens of kilometers away. Multiple 4K camera streams provided the operator with views of the machine’s surroundings.
The implications extend far beyond convenience.
Construction sites can be dangerous.
Mines can be dangerous.
Disaster zones can be extremely dangerous.
If a machine can perform physical work while the operator sits somewhere safer, human exposure to hazardous environments can potentially be reduced.
An operator might someday work from an office rather than spending the entire shift inside the machine.
That could also make certain jobs more accessible to people who cannot comfortably spend hours inside heavy equipment.
Mines Could Be Particularly Well Suited to Private 5G
Mining provides an especially compelling example.
A mine may contain enormous vehicles operating across a controlled industrial site.
That makes private cellular infrastructure attractive.
5G can potentially connect autonomous haulage vehicles, environmental sensors, cameras and remotely operated equipment through the same network.
The advantage is not necessarily that every mining machine needs gigabit internet.
Different devices need different kinds of connectivity.
A sensor may send tiny amounts of data.
A camera may transmit enormous video streams.
A remotely controlled vehicle may require extremely responsive communication.
Private 5G networks can be designed around those industrial requirements.
This is a fundamentally different use case from someone downloading a movie on a smartphone.
5. Cows Can Be Connected to 5G Networks
Yes, cows.
The animal itself obviously does not contain a cellular modem.
A wearable device does.
Smart agriculture increasingly uses connected collars, tags and other sensors to monitor livestock.
These devices can collect information about location, activity and behavior.
A farmer could potentially identify unusual movement patterns that suggest an animal is becoming sick.
Connected trackers can also help locate animals grazing across large areas.
Jio’s agricultural 5G platform, for example, describes using smart trackers and IoT sensors to monitor livestock health, behavior and environmental conditions.
The idea becomes especially valuable on large farms.
A farmer cannot physically inspect every animal continuously.
Sensors can.
The network then turns those measurements into something actionable.
A Connected Cow Is Really an IoT Sensor Platform
The concept sounds funny until the economics are considered.
Suppose a dairy operation has hundreds or thousands of animals.
A cow develops an illness.
If the farmer notices only after visible symptoms appear, treatment may become more difficult and production may already have fallen.
A wearable sensor could detect behavioral changes earlier.
Perhaps the animal is moving less.
Perhaps feeding behavior changes.
Perhaps its location pattern becomes unusual.
Software can analyze those signals and alert the farmer.
5G itself does not diagnose the cow.
It provides part of the communication infrastructure that allows sensors, machines and analytics platforms to work together.
That distinction applies to nearly every supposedly “5G-powered” device.
The network is the nervous system.
The application provides the intelligence.
Why Not Just Put Everything on Wi-Fi?
This is the obvious question.
And sometimes Wi-Fi is absolutely the better answer.
A smart television inside someone’s living room probably does not need its own 5G connection.
Neither does a refrigerator sitting six feet from a Wi-Fi router.
5G becomes more interesting when devices move across large areas or require highly managed connectivity.
Factories.
Ports.
Mines.
Farms.
Warehouses.
Airports.
Utility infrastructure.
These environments can contain thousands of sensors and machines.
A private 5G network can be designed specifically for them.
That is why the industrial side of 5G may ultimately prove more transformative than simply making smartphones download files faster.
Private 5G Is Different From the Network on Your Phone
When someone sees “5G” on an iPhone, that usually means the phone is connected to a public carrier network.
Private 5G is different.
A business can deploy a cellular network intended primarily for its own facility, employees and machines.
Access can be tightly controlled.
Coverage can be designed around the property.
Traffic can be prioritized according to operational requirements.
A manufacturing plant, for example, might prioritize robot-control traffic differently from ordinary employee internet traffic.
Ericsson says current private-network applications include autonomous vehicles, robots, remote equipment, drone inspections, environmental monitoring, predictive maintenance and real-time video.
Ericsson private 5G network overview
This is where many of the strangest 5G devices actually live.
5G Isn’t Automatically Better for Every Connected Device
There is also a lot of marketing around 5G.
Not every sensor needs it.
A tiny temperature sensor sending a few bytes every hour does not require extreme bandwidth.
A stationary machine beside an Ethernet port may be better connected with a cable.
A home security camera may work perfectly well over Wi-Fi.
Even industrial applications sometimes use combinations of 5G, Wi-Fi, fiber, satellite and specialized low-power networking technologies.
The right network depends on what the machine actually needs.
That makes “5G-enabled” less important than questions about latency, reliability, coverage, power consumption, bandwidth and security.
The Weirdest 5G Devices May Still Be Ahead
Phones were simply the beginning.
As 5G networks mature, cellular connectivity is moving into machines people rarely think of as internet devices.
A tractor can transmit live field information while operating autonomously.
A drone can stream high-resolution inspection footage from miles away.
A robot can patrol a dangerous industrial site.
An excavator can be controlled by someone who is nowhere near it.
A cow can wear a connected sensor that alerts a farmer when its behavior changes.
None of these applications exists because someone decided every object needs faster internet.
They exist because certain machines become more useful when they can continuously communicate with people, other machines and cloud or edge-computing systems.
That is the more interesting promise of 5G.
Its biggest impact may not come from making the device in someone’s pocket faster.
It may come from connecting devices nobody ever expected to need a network connection in the first place.
