The Industrial IoT Digital Divide

There is a new type of wireless connectivity that has only become available to enterprises over the last few years that many are not fully aware of — private 5G. Due to a change in spectrum policies across the globe, enterprises now have a choice to deploy their own private 5G networks. These are networks that they own and control. The data stays on their premises with the added benefit of robust security. Businesses have been deploying these networks since 2020 and the trend is growing across industries.

Let’s take a look at some of the IIoT cases customers are deploying today, and how private 5G is providing connectivity for measurable improvements in productivity and efficiency.

Connected worker: Workers on the factory floor, in the warehouse, and in storage yards are equipped with devices like tablets, scanners, smart helmets, gas detectors and push-to-talk. These devices need to work reliably anywhere on premises or in the field and require ubiquitous connectivity for operational efficiencies and worker safety.

Remote equipment monitoring and predictive maintenance: One of the biggest IoT use cases in industrial environments is to remotely monitor equipment and predict maintenance needs before anything breaks down. Connectivity to the equipment needs to be highly reliable and always available to keep things running smoothly.

Data gathering, digital twins, AI: As organizations progress into advanced stages of digital transformation, the underlying network is becoming the linchpin for determining success or stagnation. Technology layers like cloud, mobile, big data, and AI deservedly get a lot of attention on the digitization journey. But these critical advances are ineffective when there is a fundamental lack of reliable connectivity to users, machines, and things throughout the plant.

IoT sensing in mobile robots: The last few years have seen incredible advances in automating industrial operations. This includes AGVs, AMRs, and robotics solutions for multiple workflows, which use a host of IoT sensors for video analytics, collision avoidance and navigation. The need for IoT sensors to maintain connectivity while moving presents yet another dimension to the problem since the robots traverse large areas, typically requiring a switch from one wireless access point to another along the way.

Owning and operating a private wireless network comes with several advantages for these emerging use cases:

Speed of deployment: A well-designed private 5G solution can be installed and deployed in hours, not weeks or months. The best systems are turnkey solutions that map into the enterprise IT infrastructure.

Wide coverage area: Because private 5G access points can efficiently transmit signal and antenna gains at higher levels than Wi-Fi, far fewer APs are required to cover the same area. Not only is this less infrastructure to manage, but it also dramatically reduces the cabling requirements for bringing wireless connectivity to these environments.

Deterministic connectivity: Applications that require real-time response from the network infrastructure — and associated data flows that require low packet loss, very little delay, and predictable bandwidth — need a transport medium that can identify these flows and prioritize them using strict service level objectives. Deterministic network capabilities that offer this type of functionality are a key component of private 5G.

Data security: Private 5G gives enterprises complete control and visibility over the network that transports sensitive business data, and the data can remain on premises. Given data privacy and compliance requirements within an enterprise organization, this is a must-have. For others, it lessens the risk of data loss or theft.

Granular quality of service (QoS) for critical applications: Private 5G can provide granular performance controls all the way down to the application and workload level. This means that mission-critical applications can be given connectivity preference within the private 5G network to ensure they are always on.