'Low latency in 5G standard will change the industry'

Much is already possible in industry with 4G technology. What will the arrival of 5G bring to the market? Hans Leijting and Eric Kroon from Nokia Solutions & Technology will be present during the D&E event give insight to in the technical state of affairs surrounding 5G and possible applications of this telecom technology.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

The first hardware suitable for 5G networks is available and a first spectrum auction will probably take place in the Netherlands early next year. In short: the market seems ready for the fifth generation of digital mobile communications. And that offers new opportunities for the business community, says Kroon: “5G is mainly an enabler. It offers higher speeds as a successor to 4G. If you look at the other aspects of 5G, such as ultra low latency and the large number of devices that can be connected, this will create many new use cases where processes that have not yet been automated can still be automated.”

Leijting adds: “Something that will change the industry is low latency. This very short delay makes real-time control of, for example, robots possible in various applications. The number of devices that can be connected will also grow. Up to 1 million devices can be connected in 1 square kilometer.”

Industrial applications

Nokia is in full discussions with industry parties to see what new applications are possible. Leijting: “We talk to various industry verticals, from petrochemicals and automotive to logistics. If you look at the needs for connectivity – it must be more reliable and faster – this is exactly what 5G can offer. But you can get started with 4G now to be ready in time when 5G is available. And there are a number of parties that are already switching to using private LTE networks. This runs on platforms that can be brought to 5G with a software upgrade. We are currently promoting 4G+ to the industry in order to get to know the ecosystem.”

Kroon gives a practical example of possible 5G applications: “The entire automotive industry is based on production lines. Because 5G has much lower latency, you can connect robots to a mobile network instead of wired. This makes it easy to do other activities, instead of just a specific welding robot or a robot that places a window in a car. So you can quickly transform an entire production line.”

Solve pain points

However, when talking to industry customers, technology should not be the main topic, says Kroon: “We don't talk to them so much about technology but about applications, including the pain points that exist towards future growth. And you may be able to tackle those pain points with technology, but sometimes you also come to the conclusion that 5G is not relevant at all.”

5G also offers the necessary opportunities specifically for the embedded market. Kroon: “Low latency and massive machine to machine communication come into their own in the embedded market.” Leijting adds: “And with a latency of 1ms you could have processes and calculations take place in the cloud. There are still so many aspects in production lines that are not yet measured.”

Despite the fact that 5G will soon become available on the market, Kroon thinks that the business community should not sit back and wait: “Companies should not continue to wait until 5G is available. It is better to first learn to discover your own ecosystem with 4G. You can then migrate to 5G. You also have to realize that the standardization around 5G is not completely ready yet.”

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