Telecommunication n, ... ]

Telecommunication n, ... ] iStock/NicoElNino

4 Ways 5G Is Propelling Government Agencies Toward the Future

What will it take for government agencies to effectively implement 5G? That’s the question public sector and industry leaders discussed at Government Executive’s recent webcast. Here’s what they had to say.

Presented by AT&T AT&T's logo

As workplaces across the country have transitioned from an in-office environment to a work-from-home setup, a number of IT issues have emerged: spotty Wi-Fi and unstable network connections that kick off users from important meetings, to name a few. These challenges come as government agencies are tasked with delivering critical services — like healthcare programs or unemployment benefits — at a time when constituents need them most. To meet these increasingly complex citizen needs and keep their communities safe amid a public health crisis, agencies need IT tools and resources that can deliver.

At Government Executive’s recent webcast, On the Edge: The Future of 5G in Government — hosted in partnership with AT&T — government and industry leaders came together to brainstorm solutions to these challenges. The common thread throughout the discussion? 5G, the fifth generation of technology standard for wireless telecommunication networks, might just be the solution. 

1. 5G in Government Is Taking off

5G has become somewhat of a buzzword in the government technology space. Owen Rodgers, AT&T assistant vice president for engineering and architecture for federal, simplifies the concept by identifying how it’s implemented across the public sector. 

Currently, he said, there are three major “market areas where 5G is being deployed. The simplest, and maybe most traditional, is mobile deployments, where a 4G device today will eventually be replaced by 5G. The second is a fixed wireless deployment, in which devices that are more like traditional routers or other network devices access the 5G network.”

But perhaps most revolutionary, Rodgers explains, is the deployment of network edge and Multi-access Edge Computing, or MEC technologies that can be used with 5G. 

“These are technologies that are going to interact with endpoints that have compute power in the network,” he continued. 

Rodgers forecasts MEC will become increasingly important in the federal government over the next few years. 

“What MEC allows you to do is place your network computing elements [on premises] closer to the endpoints that use them,” he said. 

Through MEC, sensitive data stays within a local network and can be processed more quickly, leading to improved performance and better security. Ultimately, that means you can do more with automation and compute-heavy processes in a low-latency environment. 

2. 5G Will Drive Defense Innovation Forward

A number of public sector organizations are already working on 5G pilot programs. The Defense Department, for example, is actively preparing to leverage 5G capabilities. 

The Air Force is one branch of defense taking massive leaps toward 5G innovation. According to Air Force Chief Technology Officer Frank Konieczny, the current mission is implementing 5G at all Air Force bases. 

Currently, the Air Force has secured a 5G leasing opportunity at 10 bases in the Southeast and 20 bases in the Northwest. 

Konieczny, who spoke on the webcast, said 5G could have implications for the Air Force — and the defense sector at large — going forward. He cited several experiments taking flight across various Air Force bases.

At Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, for example, Konieczny’s team is piloting the use of 5G at Air Operations Centers, moving up to 20 or 30 applications into a distributed mobile environment. 

“This is going to be interesting, this new concept of how you would actually interface with multiple things that can provide information to you very fast,” Konieczny said. 

Meanwhile, the Air Force is also looking to test aircraft resiliency, maintenance and training through augmented reality and virtual reality. 

“This is at the edge,” Konieczny continued. “We’re going to use this data at the edge at the depots, as opposed to moving it any place else.” 

The idea is to test 5G’s ability to dramatically improve direct data transfer of an aircraft’s maintenance and performance — even before it lands.

“5G is theoretically feasible to actually do that,” Konieczny added. “It’s fast enough.”

Rodgers added the industry will soon begin seeing AR and VR disrupt the government space.  Simulations could provide training to health care professionals, for example, teaching them how to conduct a surgery without operating on a live person. 

“You can create something in an immersive environment that gives you both visual and haptic feedback, that allows somebody to learn without the same risk of error,” Rodgers said. 

Meanwhile, government manufacturing facilities could leverage AR and VR to teach people how to operate complex machinery. Instead of investing in expensive machines and training materials, Rodgers explained, AR and VR would offer essentially the same level of training without the same cost or delays in the process. 

3. Addressing 5G’s Security Challenges — and Opportunities

According to Rodgers, 5G will also provide a number of security improvements. 

“Standalone 5G being deployed next year will include security features that will make it inherently more secure than previous generations,” he said. 

In fact, several enhanced user privacy protections will be applied in a 5G environment. For example, each device’s IMSI, or unique user identifier, will be encrypted, making user data more secure. Rodgers added that protocol improvements to Steering of Roaming services will reduce fraud and lower costs for the end user. 

There are also some security challenges that come with the move to 5G. 

“The scale of eventual 5G use is going to increase the threat surface for the number of endpoints that could potentially be compromised,” Rodgers said. 

Most organizations have never dealt with this level of scale. It’s a challenge that will require government IT leaders to be proactive about thoroughly monitoring and tracking these multiple endpoints. 

However, when these challenges are navigated successfully, 5G can become a remarkable platform for government innovation. Today, as COVID-19 continues to spread, government office staff are taking safety measures to actively mitigate the spread of the virus, including checking the temperature of each visitor that walks through the door. 5G and IoT capabilities could help officials conduct these measures faster and more efficiently. With thermal and HD cameras, agencies will be able to screen and assess body temperatures with speed and greater accuracy. 

5G could also help mitigate common challenges such as long security lines. With advanced screening and facial recognition capabilities, museums, government offices and even airports could eventually easily “reduce the friction involved with physical security lines,” Rodgers said. 

4. Successful Implementation of 5G Requires Public-Private Collaboration 

Of course, implementing 5G effectively will not depend on technology alone. It will also require collaboration between government and its commercial partners. And starting small is a step in the right direction.

“Prototyping makes better policy,” said Sal D’Itri, who also spoke on the webcast. As the chair of the National Spectrum Consortium, an organization that brings together leading professionals from government, industry and academia to solve challenges around 5G and spectrum access and sharing, D’Itri knows that collaborating with industry on prototypes is the key to innovation in government. 

To prepare for a 5G-enabled future, he recommends that more agencies take a similar approach. 

“Get something going where you can start working on a couple of use cases, leverage the commercial industry and the innovators, and learn from there,” D’Itri said. 

Click here to find out how AT&T can help your organization embrace the future of 5G.  

Be sure to check out other topics covered in this series:

5 Ways Security Can Help Agencies Achieve Mission Success

This content is made possible by our sponsor AT&T; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of GovExec’s editorial staff.

NEXT STORY: How Government Leaders Are Redefining Citizen Services with 5G

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.