5G offers an excellent opportunity to improve operational performance and enhance process resilience. Many new services and opportunities will come from its ubiquitous connectivity.
5G technology allows networks to perform far beyond their previous capabilities. 5G has unique features and attributes that will define its disruptive character. These features include high data rates, higher system capacity, reduced latency, and a large number of device connections.
5G could help realize the ideal of modular factories, where machines can be quickly reconfigured to optimize production. It can easily collect data from a dense array of sensors on a scale that was previously impossible. In addition, it enables the system to automatically schedule maintenance or order replacement consumables to ensure that downtime is minimized, thereby avoiding problems. It is for self-configured production lines, proactive equipment maintenance determined by analyzing sensor data, and autonomous vehicles that can start or potentially complete outbound logistics in a day.
A range of applications that 5G can achieve:
Digital twin
Digital twinnings typically require large datasets to be effective, and 5G networks can not only facilitate the transmission of these datasets across long distances at extremely high speeds, but with its low-power variants, enable sensor applications in remote areas where remote sensors may be needed, such as road extensions or farmland in agricultural applications.
Industrial Internet of Things
The deployment of these devices focuses on measuring the efficiency with which the plant's machinery operates, as well as environmental factors that may affect operation, such as temperature and humidity. Iiot sensors can be used to provide factory workers with real-time input on the health of machine operations, helping to ensure worker safety. They can also report on potential long-term challenges, such as whether parts need to be replaced or if lubricants need to be ordered to ensure optimal operation. Iiot-powered data could even unlock new business opportunities in precisely monitoring the costs of manufacturing as a service scenarios.
Expand the reality
XR technology covers everything from virtual reality to augmented reality, and it has many horizontal business applications. XR technology is of particular value in industries such as construction and manufacturing, where participants can see detailed models of complex machinery. Manufacturers can present data and information about machinery in a spatially relevant way to help workers with maintenance, repair and training. XR applications are best experienced through headphones.
Self-driving cars and robots
To reach their full potential, self-driving cars must use so-called Internet of vehicles technology to communicate with other connected smart components in the transportation network. 5G could also be used to guide robots or forklifts through factories, using many of the same core enabling technologies, such as advanced computer vision for passenger cars. 5G has the potential for advanced automation through a zero-contact approach. From forklifts to drones to warehouse shelves, 5G will connect to automated transportation modes, and all forms of transportation inside factories in the future can be connected to 5G networks.
security
5G opens the door to multiple high-definition video streams from fixed cameras and drones, and possibly also navigating through 5G networks to secure facilities or monitor for any signs of outages or failures, especially when paired with computer vision systems that can analyze video and detect anomalies or hazards.
