Use of “track-and-trace” type applications has proven helpful in hindering the spread of COVID-19 in some countries, while raising social concern that collected data could enable personal surveillance violating privacy in other countries.

This concern is not new, however the coronavirus epidemic forces authorities to choose between disease control and privacy protection. In many countries policy makers continue to debate on guidelines to ensure that collected data is used only for the purpose of disease control.

AI promises its usefulness in finding and sharing information about the disease and its cure, although it is not of immediate and direct help. Within a decade, AI combined with IoT and wireless technologies could significantly improve disease control in the unfortunate case of another epidemic after COVID-19.

Machine learning would enhance the performance of disease spread prediction for pandemics using limited data. Techniques in compressed sensing and coding theory could be used to improve the performance of group testing for disease. Such research would require collaboration among researchers in different areas.

While it will take some time for 5G networks to be widely deployed in most countries, 6G is already being envisioned by industry as well as academia. 6G will be a cellular network using sub-terahertz and terahertz spectra and laser for high-speed communication, using AI and machine learning for network automation, and having applications with holography and virtual reality. Still, its new enabling technologies are yet to be defined and proposed.

Unmanned air vehicle (UAV) technology has grown from individual drones into swarms of multiple drones requiring wireless connectivity among them as well as with a ground station. UAV tech is widening to commercial applications in cargo delivery and aerial surveillance. 5G standards meet the requirement of ultra-reliable and low-latency communication for the command and control of UAVs.

IEEE VTS currently dedicates much of its activity to UAV, holding workshops and publishing special issues in the VT Magazine, as well as leading related standardization efforts. It also covers technologies in urban air mobility, which is envisioned as a way to avoid traffic congestion in a smart city.

Jae Hong Lee is a Past President of VTS, and has served as elected BOG member for most of the past two decades. He is a Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. His research interests are in physical layer wireless communications. He was Founding Chair of the IEEE VTS Seoul Chapter, General Chair of IEEE VTC2003-Spring, and Founding Chair of the board of IEEE VTS APWCS (Asia Pacific Wireless Communications Symposium). He is an IEEE Fellow, Fellow of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and Member of the National Academy of Engineering of Korea.

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