Over the next 10 years, artificial intelligence is expected to transform any industry, and the catalyst for this transformation is 5G. Together, the two technologies will allow fast, secure and cost-effective deployment of Internet of Things devices and smart grids.
AI-powered 5G networks will accelerate the fourth industrial revolution and create unprecedented opportunities in business and society, “said Roni Vasishta, senior vice president of telecommunications at graphics chip maker and software platform developer NVIDIA, in a special address to the World Mobile Congress in 2021 in Barcelona a few weeks ago.
“Billions of things are located across the network and data centers. The ubiquitous 5G network will connect these data centers and smart things to the speed, latency, cost and power required by the application,” Vasishta said. “As this network becomes an adaptation to 5G, AI will not only stimulate innovation, but will also need to manage, organize and increase the efficiency of the network itself.”
Unlike previous generations of wireless technology, 5G was born in the cloud age and was designed specifically for the IoT. 5G can connect billions of sensors – such as camcorders – to end-to-end data centers for AI processing.
Every industry will be transformed
Here are four real-world examples where the combination of AI and 5G connectivity is changing industries:
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Thousands of cameras monitor the automated assembly of vehicles. Visual inspection software with in-depth training algorithms is used to identify defects in vehicles. This allows car manufacturers to analyze and identify problems with the quality of the production line.
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Urban planning and traffic management for smart cities. In an environment where huge amounts of people and things interact with each other, AI-powered visual inspection software monitors all moving and stationary elements to improve city safety, space management and traffic.
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Conversational AI and natural language processing, enabling future services. Chatbots, voice assistants and other messaging services help a variety of industries automate customer support. Conversational AI is evolving to include new ways of communicating with people using facial expressions and contextual awareness.
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Powerful computing for augmented reality. Virtual reality and augmented reality are no longer connected by cables to workstations. Thanks to advanced wireless technologies such as 5G, industry professionals can make real-time design changes in AR or be present virtually anywhere in VR.
NVIDIA has been developing artificial intelligence solutions for more than a decade, working with an extensive ecosystem of independent software vendors and start-ups on the NVDIA platform. The company recently partnered with Google Cloud to create the AI-on-5G Innovation Lab, which the network infrastructure and AI software vendors will use to develop, test and launch 5G / AI applications.
NVIDIA’s AI-on-5G portfolio includes a single platform, servers, software-defined 5G virtual radio area networks, enterprise AI applications, and software development kits such as Isaac and Metropolis. A commercial version of the NVIDIA AI-on-5G will be available in the second half of this calendar year.
The NVIDIA Aerial A100 was created for the 5G era
Back in April, NVIDIA released the Aerial A100, which according to Vasishta is “a new type of computing platform designed for the (network) edge, combining AI and 5G in EGX for the enterprise.” NVIDIA EGX is an accelerated computing platform that allows continuous streaming of data between 5G base stations, warehouses, stores and other places. When implementing EGX with the Aerial A100, organizations get a full range of AI capabilities.
Today, 5G and AI infrastructures are inefficient because they are deployed and managed separately. For businesses, using AI and 5G on the same computing platform reduces equipment, power, and space costs while providing greater security for AI applications. For telecommunications, the deployment of AI applications over 5G opens up new uses and revenue streams. They can convert any 5G base station into an edge data center to support 5G workloads and AI services.
Telecommunications and businesses can benefit significantly from converged platforms such as NVIDIA AI-on-5G, where 5G serves as a secure, highly reliable and cost-effective communication fabric between sensors and AI applications.