Unlocking 5G’s Potential for Smart Buildings: Transforming IoT Connectivity and Efficiency

Carriers in the US, including AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, are increasingly interested in connecting smart building IoT devices to their public networks with promises of improved redundancy, better performance, and lower operational costs. While the use cases for such benefits in smart building settings remain low, there are niche use cases where benefits could be achieved.

Let’s look at three recent advancements of public 5G for IoT and situations where building owners and operators may find value.

1. Large-scale IoT Connectivity

5G has what’s known as Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), which delivers much improved simultaneous IoT connectivity in densely populated environments like smart buildings. The ultra-low latency and increased bandwidth allow thousands of sensors to connect, transmit data, and easily be managed from a centralized location.

Additionally, carriers and operators can create customized network segmentsꟷcalled network slicesꟷthat allow the IoT devices within one segment to be completely isolated from all others. This delivers heightened security at a very large scale. An ideal smart building use case for 5G in this situation would be the deployment of large numbers of temperature/humidity/air quality, smart lighting, smart energy meters, and physical access control sensors to be deployed across a single wireless network.

2. 5G-Advanced Delivers Smart Building Improvements

An evolution of 5G technology, 5G Advanced (also referred to as 5.5G) focuses on several smart building needs that were previously lacking. First is the inclusion of AI and machine learning (ML) integration. Because AI and ML are making tremendous strides, owners and operators are seeking ways to leverage these technologies to help streamline and automate management and maintenance processes that are time-consuming and costly.

With integrations now built directly into the 5G-Advanced network, building operators can use software, data gathering, and analytics to automatically allocate network resources and predictive maintenance to various smart building network solutions. For example, integrated systems can be deployed and setup to predict IoT network traffic patterns, making proactive decisions to traffic flows that help to avoid network congestion.

A second smart building benefit of 5G advanced is improved network latency. This is especially important for augmented reality (AR) use cases that are increasingly becoming more mainstream thanks to decreased costs in quality AR glasses. For example, maintenance technicians can use 5G-Advanced-connected AR glasses to receive step-by-step visual instructions that are digitally overlayed across complex equipment. This allows lesser-skilled technicians to make adjustments or repairs, ensuring the job is completed correctly.

3. 5G Edge Computing

Edge computing is a method to bring data processing closer to where the data is generated. In certain situations, this is necessary as processing data in a far-off cloud or data center can lead to higher latency and massive internet/WAN link bandwidth usage. Pairing edge computing with the high-throughput and low latency capabilities of 5G opens new doors to what’s possible regarding smart building technology use cases.

One use case that’s growing in popularity is edge computing and 5G for ultra-high-definition surveillance cameras. 5G has the throughput and latency requirements to transmit numerous video streams to local edge computing servers. The data streams are processed locally, reducing latency and bandwidth, which allows for immediate threat detection and the application of AI/ML facial recognition, object detection, and behavior analysis in real-time.

Smart Building Early Opportunity vs. Obsolescence

5G, along with supplementary smart building technologies, can deliver smarter, more secure, and more efficient solutions. But keep in mind that the window for early adoption is narrowing. If you haven't yet done so, consider how 5G can transform your building operations without the fear of falling behind. Proactive steps should be made in 2025, by consulting with relevant 5G carriers on the best ways to leverage 5G technologies for advanced smart building use cases.