Nokia today announced it is extending its Industrial portfolio of ruggedized devices with the launch of an Industrial 5G fieldrouter, supporting the local band and certified for the Japanese market. The fieldrouter will allow asset-intensive enterprises in the country to connect vehicles and equipment and use operational data to gain new levels of agility and productivity. Ports, manufacturers, energy, transportation, warehousing and logistics companies will benefit from greater operational flexibility to meet rapidly changing market needs.
Private 5G wireless allows enterprises to connect workers and assets such as sensors and machines in the most reliable, secure way and with the lowest latency. This will allow them to gain access to operational technology (OT) in real time and leverage compelling Industry 4.0 use cases to boost productivity, efficiency and agility. These include enabling robots and vehicle automation on a grand scale, using operational data with analytics to make maintenance predictive, and further enhancing maintenance and planning by combining this data with artificial intelligence to create a digital twin of the operating environment.
Machines, systems, vehicles and sensors can be connected to the local private wireless networks via the Nokia Industrial 5G fieldrouter. As well as its wireless connectivity, the fieldrouter tunnelling capabilities enables interoperability between industrial communications protocols such as PROFINET, EtherCAT, Modbus or OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA). Offering IP67 protection for harsh indoor and outdoor environments and an anti-vibration design it ensures, for example, autonomous haulage trucks stay connected while traversing rough terrains around a mine and straddle trucks keep goods moving at ports. This constant connectivity is vital, not only for productivity, but also for safety, ensuring equipment can be halted in an instant.
With the addition of the Industrial 5G fieldrouter for the Japanese market, Nokia is continuing to expand its portfolio of industrial private wireless solutions access points to allow enterprises in Japan to leverage dedicated coverage and capacity using the recently released 5G n79 band or other available 4.9G/LTE spectrum bands for local networks.
Donny Janssens, Head of APJ Enterprise Private Wireless Campus at Nokia, said: “Reliable, safe and pervasive connectivity of equipment and machines is vital for the digitalization of industry, allowing enterprises to connect operations end-to-end. Nokia is doing this in the most intuitive way to allow Japanese businesses to accelerate their transformation. Customers can experience the capabilities of the ruggedized fieldrouter working in a 5G and 4.9G/LTE private wireless networks for themselves at our recently revamped Advanced Technology Center in Tokyo.”