Finnish operator Telia conducted a 5G trial at a Nokia base station factory in Oulu, Finland. The trial is significant because it demonstrated how 5G networks can be used to make assembly line operations more efficient and accurate.
The network used a 5G radio access network (RAN) operating in the 28 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum band using a massive multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) antenna.
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It combined several Nokia technologies, including the company’s 5G AirScale platform and its multi-access edge computing (MEC) technology. It also used Nokia’s AirFrame data center technology, Intel’s 5G mobile trial platform for end user devices, and the Finwe video analytics application.
The Finwe application monitored and analyzed video feed of an assembly line operation at the factory.
In the first trial, MEC was used to process the data from the video feed of the assembly line. By using MEC and machine learning technology, Telia was able to analyze the video feed and reduce latency so that the assembly line operator could be notified immediately if there were any inconsistencies in the operation.
In the second trial, Telia was able to provide cloud remote service delivery for business customers by using the AirFrame data center platform, the MEC technology, and Finwe’s video app at Telia’s centralized data center in Helsinki, Finland. That data center is about 125 miles from the Nokia factory in Oulu.
Nokia said that it will continue to use its MEC platform with the Finwe application at the base station factory but will run it over the 4G LTE network.
This isn’t the only trial for Telia. The operator last September deployed a 5G test network on a passenger cruise ship in the Port of Tallinn, Estonia. That trial, which Telia conducted with Ericsson and Intel, provided connectivity to 2,000 cruise ship passengers. The operator has said that it will launch commercial 5G services this year in Tallinn and Stockholm, Sweden.
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