Wireless technology can already do a lot. Moreover, the arrival of 5G private networks creates new opportunities in the industry. This is what Eildert van Dijken says, who works as a consultant at the ICT consultancy agency Strict and is an expert in 5G technology. Van Dijken will during the Industrial Ethernet event – on March 14 in De Basiliek in Veenendaal – the possibilities of 4G/5G communication in industrial environments discuss and discuss a number of challenging real-life projects.
By: Dimitri Reijerman
Van Dijken works every day with companies and industries that want to utilize the potential of 5G. “I am involved in a number of projects in which private networks are being rolled out and that are trying to solve practical problems. I enjoy working at concept level, but also sometimes holding a screwdriver to see: what can it really do?”
These can be surprising applications, he says: “In one project, 5G is used for alarms within a prison environment. This involves mission-critical communication. We started this project two years ago with a proof-of-concept. We wanted to find out: is this even possible with 5G technology? And does this technology do what we want? Does it also work well with the application we have devised? What about positioning, something that can also be very important in industrial environments. Ultimately, we have only now started the rollout of approximately seven hundred devices.”
Fast and very low latency
On paper, 5G technology has many advantages: “The big advantage of 5G is that it is built to not only enable higher data speeds, but that the so-called 5G core has a very low latency offers. This makes precise robot control possible, for example. Time-sensitive networking, which is very important in industrial environments, is also feasible with 5G. Furthermore, the 5G signal is more robust than WiFi. Especially in a factory with a lot of metal, 5G radio signals work more reliably.”
However, the full potential of 5G is currently far from being utilized in the Netherlands. This is due to frequencies that have not yet been allocated, says Van Dijken: “In the Netherlands, the big problem is that the frequency on which 5G makes the most sense, the 3.5GHz band, cannot yet be used. Germany already has more than two hundred private 5G networks running, each with a bandwidth of 100MHz. In the Netherlands this is only 2 x 5MHz. It is therefore already possible for our Eastern neighbors to introduce these fast private 5G networks on a large scale.”
“The German industry is also seizing this with both hands. Companies such as BASF, Mercedes and Lufthansa already have enormous 5G networks running in their factories. You see that 5G technology continues to work under difficult conditions, such as in the huge hangars where aircraft are located. Wi-Fi is not easy to use at such distances.”
Hard guarantees
The industrial players work closely with providers: “The major industrial parties in Germany make it clear that they want firm guarantees that their own data is not 'outside'. They want to store this locally for safety reasons. T-Mobile and Vodafone then play a major role in building and managing the private 5G networks that are a solution for this. This is slightly different here: in the Netherlands, most of the focus of providers is still on selling SIM cards and services.”
However, Van Dijken states that the Dutch industry should not allow itself to be rushed by its German colleagues and that they should work on 5G technology at their own pace: “In projects in the Netherlands that I know, we do not allow ourselves to be held back by the technical limitations, but that we mainly look at 'what is possible?'. The challenge often lies in the entire production chain, such as the integration of a 4G/5G modem with the device to be controlled. For example, a piece of software must be developed for this, which takes time. During my keynote at the Industrial Ethernet event, I want to convey that many things are already possible with current mobile technology. Because radio technology can do a lot and is rarely an obstacle. So my appeal is: challenge the technology!”
Would you like to attend the lecture? Then register for free for the Industrial Ethernet event on Tuesday, March 14.
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