5G is within reach – but is it too good for manufacturing?

It is almost impossible to overstate the impact of wireless technology in daily life - over the years, it has transformed the way people work, play and connect.

The successive generations of data delivery – 2G, 3G and 4G – have each increased the types of data which can be sent over the air, and improved the speed at which they can be delivered. The arrival of 2G in the 1990s, for example, enabled SMS text messaging. The implementation of High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, a common 3G interface, brought video calls and much-improved web access to smartphone users. 4G brought tenfold improvements in speed, and enabled the crystal-clear voice calls available today.