5G in Big Data World

Big Data is driven by the internet of things. Internet of Things is the computing devices embedded in everyday objects that send and receive data, an inter-network of the everyday things. Mobile phones have significantly increased the generation of Big Data and the number of connected devices is expected to reach 50 billion by 2020. Data generation is expanding at an astonishing pace. Every minute, YouTube users upload 400 hours of new video, while Instagram users generate 2.5 million posts. IBM’s recent report suggests that each day, 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data is created. It is predicted that the amount of data generated in 2020 would reach an astounding amount of 40 trillion gigabytes. It is 44 times greater than that in 2009. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the world of Big Data.

Big Data consists of four main components:

Volume: It refers to the amount of data, as to how much data is generated.

Variety: It suggests the type of data and data structures a particular set of data contains. For example, if it’s an audio data, video data or both. If it is Geo-spatial data or log files. These types of data are associated with a variety of applications such as stock trading, healthcare advertising etc.

Velocity: Velocity depicts the processing of data in a timely way to draw the required results. The more fast and accurate the speeding process of data is the more data can be analyzed in a shorter span of time.

Value: It essentially depicts how much worthy this data is. Such rich information can open up new doors to big opportunities. These Big Data sets and its analysis can help create new algorithms that could train artificial intelligence to do some wonderful things.

How Is Big Data Analyzed

The Big Data is stored and accessed in the concept of cloud computing. Cloud storage is simply storing data or backing up data in a space that is away from its original source and can be accessed easily. The whole process of analyzing Big Data can be divided into the following processes:

Data Acquisition: As the name suggests, refers to the process of acquiring raw data from various sources either from the original source or through any backup sources. Data can be acquired through online sources, social media or offline surveys as well. In-fact, data can be acquired even from sensors and other devices connected to the internet.

Data Pre-Processing: It refers to the operations performed on raw data such as compression or encryption. At this stage we are not really analyzing the data, we’re only sorting it (in the simplest terms). We are just making the data ready for analysis in a comfortable and programmable way.

Data Transportation: It refers to the process of moving data to different centers for analyzing it.

Data Analysis: It is the main process in which various tools and methods are used to analyze data and extract useful insights that can be used to develop algorithms or unlock new potential for further usage.

The 5G

5G is a wireless technology that is offering a staggering increase in transmission bandwidth, theoretically 10 gigabits per second (GBit/s).

To put this in perspective, imagine downloading an entire 1.25 GB movie in one second. That’s amazing. It’s supposed to be launched by 2020. Now just imagine this; you’re capable of downloading a 1 GB file in 1 second. It means it would take 10 seconds to download 10 GB of a file. Downloading huge data in just a short span of time is directly pointing to Big Data. It means tremendous mobile traffic will be there and to handle all of this traffic, companies are incorporating massive communication, caching, and computing resources. This much traffic can create back-haul congestion and to mitigate it, special measures are being taken. The concept of reducing latency also comes with it. Certain cloud computing technologies will be integrated with the mobile technologies to facilitate computing intensive technologies such as augmented reality and interactive gaming.

In short, 5G will revolutionize the handling of Big Data and will significantly improve communication, caching and computing capabilities. 5G wireless technology will also play a crucial role in Big Data pre-processing due to its 24/7 availability and the impact it can have on network storage capacities and computing capabilities.

Internet of things devices can provide us with all the raw data (Data Acquisition). 5G Edge caching/ computing can perform certain operations on this data such as compression/sorting operations (Data Pre-processing). 5G wireless networks can transport data at a fast rate to different centers for analyzing (Data Transportation) and finally, those centers will analyze the data according to their needs. 5G acts as a bridge between data sources and data centers as in transporting the data from the source to the center at a much faster rate.

Big Data and Performance

Big Data can also improve performance. Big Data helps us drawing out some useful insights so that we could develop certain strategies to maximize profit as well as performance. For example, through Big Data analytics we can maximize revenue, efficiently manage network resources and enhance user experience. Big Data analytics can show us the weak points we have in our systems and what we can do to mitigate them.

How 5G and Big Data Work Together

Managing these vast amounts of data requires powerful networks. 5G should help enable the continued growth of big data, the IoT and other technologies. As we increase the speed at which we can process data, we will unlock many more applications for these technologies.

Big data, powered by 5G, will be an essential facilitator of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in which digital technologies will transform the way we work and live. In a connected factory, for example, machinery will have sensors that collect data on its performance. This data enables managers to identify pieces of equipment that aren’t functioning as efficiently as other machines. It may also alert them to maintenance needs so they can fix the issue before it causes major disruption, which can help facilities reduce energy use and emissions.

5G will also help enable other large-scale transformations, such as the creation of smart cities. Smart cities use IoT sensors and big data to improve the quality of life of their residents and visitors. For example, sensors placed near parking spots could send data over the internet about whether a spot is available or occupied. Drivers could then access this information using a mobile app. Self-driving cars could even use this information to drive to the nearest open parking spot automatically, which would reduce congestion and help make travel more efficient.

Smart energy grids are another transformative technology that relies on 5G and big data. Smart energy grids feature sensors throughout the system that enable operators to see exactly how much energy any given location is generating, and how much people are using. That helps them operate the grid more efficiently, quickly identify and fix outages and more easily integrate variable generation resources such as wind and solar.

Big data could also help make 5G networks better. Networks could potentially use the vast amounts of data that flow over them to improve the operation of the networks themselves and the applications that run on them. Using machine learning, they could even do this automatically. Organizations could also use big data analytics to detect and contain cybersecurity threats. In this way, operators could create an entirely self-managed system.