But can they handle tomorrow’s latency-critical applications?

From the first mobile phones and the Internet to smartphones and the mobile Internet, technical innovation has quickly expanded opportunities for people to communicate. This expansion has driven a relentless and rapid rise in the volume of traffic traveling across the networks that connect us. While the human will to communicate is at the heart of the tremendous success of these tools, the quest to satisfy this apparently insatiable desire places great importance on effectively maximizing network performance and utilization.

No matter how much capacity the network provides, we will use it all and more. So, the network’s ability to make the maximum use of available resources is critical. We also seek rapid progress toward each subsequent generation of network technology. For example, as 5G mobile rolls out, we are already looking forward to 6G and the new and better services that could become available. But each new technological generation comes with tremendously greater complexity, which takes vastly more human-hours – not to mention finance – to develop.

The industry pursues a challenging combination of goals: extend coverage, support increasing numbers of subscribers, add more and higher-value services, increase performance and efficiency and keep accelerating technological progress. One observable trend involves the adoption of software-based techniques to achieve faster evolution, enhanced flexibility and greater utilization of network resources. It’s exciting to see innovations in software-defined radio (SDR), as well as the development of software-defined networking (SDN) and network-management tools, enabling networks to meet these demands by becoming increasingly virtualized and adaptable.

The flexibility inherent in SDR permits networks to change and update protocols, giving equipment manufacturers the confidence to invest sooner in the next generation of network technology. By not having to commit to fixed hardware, they can begin product development sooner even while the standards makers are refining the specifications. We get the next generation more quickly because the engineers developing the equipment can start work sooner, and we gain cost-effectiveness since the substantial hardware commitment does not burden each small change.

SDN separates the network control and data planes (which are logically separate in the OSI model), permitting centralized software-based management of network traffic. Building on this, network management systems help to monitor performance, automate tasks and optimize bandwidth usage. SDNs dynamically adjust routing, security and resource allocation, which helps improve efficiency, reduce costs and enhance network flexibility.

This software-based flexibility also eases scaling by enabling the control logic to adapt without disrupting data flow. Deploying new features and protocols without modifying the underlying data forwarding mechanisms also ensures faster innovation.

As we strive to maximize returns on investments in network technologies, software tools have become increasingly widely used and, indeed, essential for managing communication networks and maximizing resource utilization. They monitor traffic flows and patterns, detect underutilized resources and provide real-time insights into problems such as network congestion. They help with traffic tracking and capacity planning to maximize network efficiency and make it possible to dynamically reallocate resources based on demand, especially during peak traffic times.

The virtualization made possible by SDN and associated tools enables physical networking equipment to handle more traffic and serve more users. Distributing workloads dynamically leverages underused hardware, helping optimize resource allocation as well as easing traffic management and facilitating scalability. Virtualized networks can use software-defined routing to streamline traffic flow, reducing bottlenecks and enhancing performance. On-demand scaling also becomes possible, letting infrastructure handle spikes in traffic without requiring physical upgrades. In this way, flexible virtual network functions help to extend capacity and can be partitioned and shared efficiently among users.

As the industry continues to seek technologies that enable networks to deliver greater value and adapt and scale more quickly, we also witness initiatives like Open RAN gaining traction in the market. The 3GPP specifications define open network interfaces that allow interoperability, giving network owners the freedom to choose different vendors for radio access network (RAN) components. Clearly, Open RAN promotes a competitive environment by preventing vendor lock-in, which should, logically, result in lower equipment prices as well as accelerating the pace of innovation. Opening the interfaces between the different parts of the RAN like this creates opportunities for smaller companies and startups to bring fresh ideas to individual aspects of the infrastructure. This would be impossible in a market where only large companies with the resources to provide all elements of a network could exist. As end-users of mobile services, we could all benefit from the disruptive power this brings.

The efficiencies gained through software flexibility and openness will be pivotal in enabling future 5G and 6G networks to support all the services we are expecting. This is especially important for latency-critical applications like self-driving vehicles, high-speed financial trading, augmented and virtual reality and smart factories including robotics. Our ambitions, as a species, may be boundless. On the other hand, the resources available – time, money and frequency spectrum – are naturally limited. As always, ingenuity is the key to making the most of them.

Alun Morgan is technology ambassador at Ventec International Group (venteclaminates.com); This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. His column runs monthly.

Can today’s sustainability drive turn on a solution from the past?

As global trading and economic power dominate the news, it's essential to consider the significance of the world’s electric vehicle markets in these developments. Western and Japanese car manufacturers are realizing that China has a huge lead in electric vehicle technology and a large, receptive domestic market that fuels the success of its local brands.

Brands that historically relied on strong exports to China may never recover the ground lost against these emerging domestic players, which offer cutting-edge products at lower prices. Chinese industry data calculate that battery EVs already represent about 25% of the country’s new car market and that China has been the world’s top producer in the new energy vehicles category for the past 10 years consecutively.

EV technology has rapidly advanced, with key targets focused on increasing driving range and reducing charging time. Range anxiety remains a significant barrier to widespread EV adoption and has resulted in vehicles equipped with large and heavy batteries. Their weight and bulk can compromise drivability and cause technical and environmental problems. Moving the vehicle demands a large quantity of energy, even though the powertrain may achieve extremely high energy-conversion efficiency.

Additionally, tire stress and wear increase, and producing the batteries demands large quantities of strategically important minerals like lithium. As the first wave of large-scale EV adoption reaches the end of life for many batteries, we will face urgent challenges with battery disposal and reclamation of valuable materials.

An abundance of hydrogen. If larger batteries are not a good long-term solution, hydrogen may offer an alternative power source. It’s much lighter in weight and has acceptable energy density. As the most common element in the universe, there is none of the scarcity challenges associated with lithium or fossil fuels. On the other hand, how clean hydrogen is depends on how it’s made. One method, electrolysis, splits water using electricity from renewable or nuclear sources – this is considered cleaner. Another method, called methane reforming, is more common today but produces a lot of CO₂, which harms the environment. These production methods are the reason hydrogen is labeled by color: green and pink hydrogen come from cleaner sources, while gray hydrogen comes from reforming and is less environmentally friendly.

Perhaps electric road systems (ERS) could offer a solution. Leveraging inductive charging, ERS lets electric vehicles go further with smaller batteries. Researchers in Sweden have built short stretches of experimental roadways and run simulations that suggest a combination of home and dynamic charging could shrink car battery sizes up to 70%. Clearly, ERS will be expensive to install and maybe viable only in urban areas, although the Swedish team reckons the system could be viable if only 25% of the road network is converted.

There’s a cool piece of lateral thinking at the heart of this idea. Since the beginning of the automobile age, the vehicles we drive have carried their energy source. Semantically, it’s a defining principle, but ERS flips the concept on its head by taking the energy source off the vehicle. This enables lighter and more affordable EVs with extra range, something that traditional methods have struggled to achieve so far.

Historical precedents. Like many of the technologies currently being explored and developed to support a sustainable future, there are historical precedents. The San Francisco cable car system provides an example that dates from the 1870s. Cables running in trenches are driven continuously at 9.5 miles per hour, each powered by a DC electric motor, while the cars are simple and unpowered. An operator on board manually clamps the vehicle to the cable when it is time to move. Through the 20^th century, people began to phase out the system until they acknowledged its cultural significance and preserved the remaining routes. The three surviving lines are still operating today, carrying passengers and sightseers to their destinations.

You may have noticed I’ve moved the goalposts, as the cable car system is an example of mass transit and not personal transport. Its simplicity is admirable, however, and this enabled the engineers to deliver a service of great value to the community using the limited capabilities of the time.

Similarly simple, functional and extremely environmentally friendly, are water-powered railways. Several are operating in different locations worldwide, including Braga in Portugal, Fribourg in Switzerland and the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railways in the UK. Designed to carry passengers to the top of the steep coastal cliff, the Lynton and Lynmouth system comprises two carriages linked by a cable and consumes no power at all. Each carriage has a large tank filled at the top station using water from the nearby West Lyn River as ballast. The intricately engineered brakes are used to control the system as the heavy top car descends, which raises the lower car. At the end of the descent, the water is released and the other car is filled, permitting the process to repeat continuously.

Although the cliff railway has an extremely low carbon footprint, there would have been no such environmental imperative at the time it was built. A lack of funding is quite likely to have driven the unpowered design. Although ingenious, it was not widely copied. Today, under pressure to decarbonize, we should let ourselves be inspired by engineering like this as we seek to create solutions that are functional, affordable and fossil-fuel-free.

Alun Morgan is technology ambassador at Ventec International Group (venteclaminates.com); This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. His column runs monthly.