Deutsche Telekom has revealed its 5G network has started assisting EK Automation, Konica Minolta and Endress+Hauser for improving business efficiency.
“Our development of a complete 5G ecosystem for industry will accelerate the pace of digitization in industry,” said Claudia Nemat, board member for Technology and Innovation at Deutsche Telekom.
Ericsson, one of the leading suppliers of 5G network equipment, is the technology partner of Deutsche Telekom for building its 5G network in Germany.
EK Automation, which has been manufacturing automated guided vehicle systems since 1980, has tied up with the Telekom incubator Hubraum to equip transport robots with 3D cameras.
Technicians integrated a 3D obstacle detection with dynamic route planning into the Edge Cloud. The transport robot sends the 3D camera images to the cloud for analysis almost in real time via the Telekom 5G network. This enabled the vehicle to avoid obstacles placed in the roadway.
“The new 5G mobile communications standard with data rates of more than one gigabit per second opens up new possibilities for us. For example, we can coordinate many transport robots in this way,” said Jan Dromer, CIO of EK Automation.
Konica Minolta has tied up with Deutsche Telekom for developing its AIRe Lens that helps a technician to assemble machines. It shows step-by-step instructions on the display. The technician keeps his hands free. He can show the situation to an expert at a remote location. A camera is integrated in the glasses for this purpose. In the future, AIRe Lens will deliver data directly via Telekom’s 5G network.
“In combination with Telekom’s network, AIRe Lens enables us to offer our customers a wearable AR solution,” said Ikuo Nakagawa. senior executive officer, Digital Workplace Business Unit, Konica Minolta.
Endress+Hauser, a leader in measurement and automation technology, will be one of the first manufacturers to equip its sensors with mobile radio modules. Endress+Hauser can use 5G network for transmitting process and device data in real time. Their technicians can evaluate performance for predictive plant maintenance.
Matthias Altendorf, CEO of Endress+Hauser Group, said: “The 5G campus networks open a second signal path that is independent of the control system. This enables us to link value chains closely across company boundaries and make industrial processes more efficient.”
