Though 5G wireless technology is only available in about a third of the countries around the
world, it’s
hoped that its performance benefits – more efficient operations in everything from personal
activities to industrial processes and transportation – will deliver
sustainability improvements even though the
networks themselves will require greater energy use due to expanded user adoption.
While those expectations will be put to the test during this decade, NXP is already working on the
next generation of wireless tech. This next generation will help redefine how sustainability is
achieved by embedding a human-like intelligence in the network that will purposefully manage and
maximize energy use and efficiency.
We Are on a Journey to Building a Sustainable Network.
6G will build on 5G’s connectivity and performance improvements with
10 times the data transfer speed, which will enable instant responsiveness, seamless end-to-end
access and services that cross industries and locations. This will come with an expected
hundredfold hike in mobile traffic worldwide.
NXP is taking steps now to drive down the power consumption of the entire system, using such
innovations as putting more processing power at the point of data collection and use, called "the
edge". We live and work at the edge of computer networks, which means expending less energy
connecting to the cloud and more useful and potentially energy-saving applications locally.
We’re also developing and manufacturing advanced semiconductor technologies like gallium nitride
which offer increased performance over many applications while reducing energy use (late last year
we opened a new fab in Chandler, Arizona to apply this tech to 5G chips).
But the real “aha” for us is that human-like intelligence I mentioned earlier; we envision using a
combination of AI/machine learning and connectivity to enable autonomous decision-making within
the network so that it will itself decide where energy is spent. This will make its energy use
purposeful, not incidental to its operation, and integrate sustainability as a feature, not just
an outcome.
NXP is investing in every stage of this journey to build a sustainable network, and I couldn’t be
more excited about its promise.
