Amazon Web Services (AWS), Ericsson and Hitachi America R&D partnered on a private 5G deployment that established machine learning (ML) models at a Hitachi electric motor vehicle component manufacturing plant in Kentucky.

The private cellular network was deployed within the recently expanded Hitachi Astemo Americas plant in Berea, Kentucky. The network uses Ericsson’s Private 5G platform and AWS’ Snow Family of physical cloud hardware.

The deployment involved setting up cameras on a live production line that produces components for electric vehicles. That real-time video was fed across the Ericsson private 5G network to an AWS Snowball Edge device running Hitachi video analytics software infused with ML and artificial intelligence (AI).

This set up was used to detect potential defects on that assembly line. It was able to simultaneously inspect 24 assemble components at the sub-millimeter level compared with one-by-one inspection using “conventional approaches,” according to the companies.

The companies claim the deployment was completed in three days.

“The goal was to build, train and apply these models to enhance product quality on the manufacturing floor, marking a significant step in the application of multiple technology components in industry,” the firms explained in a press release.

The integrated effort also combats the ongoing challenge of weaving together equipment from disparate vendors.

“Having multiple vendors in a single network requires complex testing and optimization and significantly expands the role of the integrator, creating opportunities for vendor-neutral [system integrators] but new challenges for operators,” Analysys Mason Senior Analyst James Kirby wrote in a recent report. “These challenges relate to technical scope, but also vendor/operator communication, problem resolution and after-service support.”

Ericsson’s Private 5G platform is a prepackaged service with different consumption levels based on need. The vendor recently updated the platform with improved visibility, management and coverage capabilities.

Matt Addicks, who heads up private cellular marketing and strategy for Ericsson’s Cradlepoint division, explained to SDxCentral in a recent interview that the platform is targeted at enterprises with more “resource” depth as compared with Ericsson’s more tightly managed NetCloud Private Networks offering.

“A great example of this is from a radio perspective,” Addicks said. “The coverage and capacity that it can support based off of the radio architecture is incrementally stronger than that of the NetCloud solution.”

AWS has been using its Snow products to support other private 5G deployments.

The hyperscaler earlier this year partnered with Federated Wireless to run a managed private network on the San Luis Obispo campus of California Polytechnic State University on top of AWS’ Snowcone edge compute hardware. That network also supports T-Mobile US wireless customers roaming onto that network.

AWS also has its own private network ambitions.

The company earlier this year unveiled its Integrated Private Wireless on AWS platform that acts as an infrastructure bridge for operators that want to offer a private network service tapping into AWS’ infrastructure to end users.

Jan Hofmeyr, VP for Amazon EC2, explained in an interview with SDxCentral this allows AWS to connect incoming customers interested in a private network platform with the cloud provider’s telecom partners.

“We are really just connecting the customer with the telco, then that relationship is between the two of them,” Hofmeyr said.

Initial telecom partners include Deutsche Telekom, KDDI, Orange, T-Mobile US and Telefónica.

The Integrated Private Wireless on AWS platform is different from its Private 5G platform that it initially unveiled in late 2021, and has since updated. That platform integrates small cell radio units, AWS’ Outposts servers, a 5G core, and radio access network (RAN) software running on AWS-managed hardware. AWS also handles the spectrum management of this service.

ABI Research recently reported more than 1,000 private cellular networks have been deployed worldwide, but noted that reporting of new private networks has slowed, which it said is a good thing as it shows a rationalizing of the market.

“Enterprises are beginning to see the deployment of private cellular connectivity as a competitive advantage and, therefore, do not want to talk about it too openly, which is important as the market moves from the experimental phase toward commercializing private network deployments,” Leo Gergs, senior analyst for 5G markets at ABI Research, wrote.

Gergs added, “the telco industry urgently needs to deliver on promises made to the enterprise community now. Otherwise, enterprise 5G will enter the history books as the technology that always overpromised and underdelivered.”