5G technology is fast approaching in a wide range of industries, and it is poised to be a leap forward for wireless communications capability. According to a recent announcement, a Qualcomm subsidiary and Robert Bosch will research collaboratively with a focus on 5G New Radio (NR) technology applications for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
According to a recent announcement, a Qualcomm subsidiary and Robert Bosch will research collaboratively with a focus on 5G New Radio (NR) technology applications for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
“We are just at the very beginning of realizing what is possible with 5G in industrial applications, with 3GPP release 15 commercializing this year,” said Dr. Yongbin Wei, senior director of engineering, Qualcomm Technologies. “The next release— 3GPP release 16— will offer new classes of services with ultra-reliable low latency control and optimization of 5G NR for industrial IoT, and we are delighted to work with Bosch in this area.”
Qualcomm Technologies and Bosch, leveraging support for private 5G NR networks and the roadmap constructed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaboration among groups of telecommunications standards associations, are confident that 5G NR connectivity services will constitute critical components of smart, connected factories in the Industry 4.0 era.
The two companies have already wrapped up a collaborative study focusing on radio channels for industrial environments to ascertain the unique radio characteristics of industrial locations. For that study, Qualcomm Technologies contributed its 5G NR expertise while Bosch contributed its industrial automation and technology expertise.
Using the industrial radio channel characterization as an initial springboard, Qualcomm Technologies and Bosch intend to launch an over-the-air trial using 5G NR industrial IoT applications at one of the latter’s manufacturing facilities. The trial will, among other things, look at the applicability of Release 15 5G-NR to current industrial use cases.
In other news, the two companies are also working together as members of the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA) to push for developing 5G technologies that address industrial needs.
If you’d like to learn some more about IIoT and its implications, check out The IIoT in a Nutshell.