Vodafone Business, which is the business division of Vodafone Spain, and Ericsson have announced they will jointly carry out activities focused on promoting the advantages and applications of private 5G networks across Spain.
In a release, Vodafone noted that the pair will organize conferences that will take place this year in cities such as Vigo, Madrid, Seville, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Castellón and Málaga. The objective of these conferences is to show the potential of private 5G networks, which sectors are already benefiting from it and what challenges their implementation entails.
Vodafone noted that the first event of this cycle will be held on June 6 at the facilities of Recalvi, a company operating in the automotive sector, in Vigo, marking the beginning of a series of meetings that will cover different industrial sectors and regions of the country.
Jesús Suso, director of Vodafone Busines, said: “5G private networks represent a revolution for the industry and for many other sectors of activity, enabling unprecedented connectivity that will boost the innovation and efficiency of many companies in our country. We are pleased to collaborate with Ericsson to deliver this series of events. Together, we are demonstrating the transformative power of private 5G networks and how they can be deployed to meet the specific demands of each industry.”
“The deployment of private 5G networks in the business world will enable unprecedented use cases and applications, from advanced and automated manufacturing to digital twins or augmented reality. Our collaboration with Vodafone will bring companies of all types an unlimited range of possibilities to optimize processes and make them more competitive, digital and sustainable,” said David Polo, business director at Ericsson Iberia.
In January, Vodafone Spain deployed a private 5G Standalone (5G SA) network that will allow Ford to optimize production processes at its Almussafes factory in Valencia, Spain.
Vodafone said that the new deployment will enable the company to obtain early validation of components, functionality and software due to the collection of information through still images or videos that will be processed at the edge of the Vodafone network. This technology allows the application server to be brought closer to the network, so that latency is reduced. Thus, the system could stop the assembly line if an error is detected, minimizing the economic and environmental impact, the telco added.
In addition, through Radio Positioning System (RPS) techniques over 5G, real-time monitoring of components in the value chain has been carried out using low-latency technologies.
Use cases related to electrical risk protection and ergonomic improvements for assembly line operators are also being carried out, Vodafone added. Specifically, this use case monitors, using Kinect sensors and the edge of Vodafone’s 5G network, the postural and ergonomic risks to operators, so that the system learns to detect risks of this nature and can notify the operator to correct their movements.