5G Wireless Seems Optimal for Industrial IoT
A few weeks ago two hardware giants in the telecom and chip industries, Ericsson and Intel, launched a 5G Innovators Initiative, along with Honeywell, GE, and the University of California Berkeley. 5G wireless is the next standard after 4G that will convey much more data at much higher speeds, making it ideal for IIoT applications. In fact, the 5G Innovators Initiative’s action plan states that “The first industry segment to be explored is Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).”
Honeywell and GE, the primary industrial partners in this initiative, both recognize the value of 5G for industry. “Industrial companies looking to optimize their assets and operations need connectivity from the edge to the cloud. … using the innovations emerging from 5G wireless will help them unlock efficiency, increase manageability and drive sustainability,” said Peter Marx, Vice President, Advanced Concepts, GE Digital.
“5G technology will be a key enabler as we continue to develop and deploy new connected solutions to improve worker productivity, safety and asset performance across our customers’ global supply chains,” said Suresh Venkatarayalu, Chief Technology Officer, Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions. “It will help us bring to market new IoT solutions for aircraft, buildings, homes, industrial plants, logistics providers, manufacturers and retailers.”
Commenting on the value of 5G wireless for industrial applications, Bob Gill at ARC Advisory Group said last year, “The ramp-up in speed and performance that goes with the next evolution of the cellular story, 5G, brings with it increased relevance to the industrial flavor of IoT, i.e. IIoT, and some interesting potential applications. … More specific to Industrial IoT, 5G’s extremely low latency of one millisecond (versus about 25 ms for 4G) makes it viable for critical industrial applications involving control rather than just monitoring.”
This is the kind of performance that Skkynet users can appreciate. Already recognized by Nokia for its cutting-edge technology, Skkynet is well positioned to take full advantage of the high speed performance that 5G can provide. The SkkyHub service adds only a few milliseconds to overall device-to-user data transmission via the cloud. Running on a 5G network would mean real-world M2M response times of under 5 milliseconds for industrial applications.
“Remotely controlled operations are particularly applicable in industries like mining, construction, oil & gas, and power, where the operating environment may be hazardous and the sites distantly located, hard to reach, and inhospitable,” Gill continued. “For a remote worker to operate a machine in a mine, for example, as safely and efficiently as an on-site operator necessitates a level of sensory awareness of the surroundings, and this becomes possible with a fast, low latency 5G network transmitting live video and enabling real-time force feedback and haptic interaction.”
At Skkynet we are following the development of 5G wireless with interest, while we continue to build and enhance the necessary secure infrastructure to support Gill’s vision. Even with just 3G or 4G, engineers and managers are able today to do supervisory control with live video in real time using DataHub and SkkyHub technology. 5G can only enhance the performance and user experience.
