New Analynk 4G LTE Hazardous Area Antenna Nears Release

Analynk will soon release a new 4G LTE hazardous area antenna to compliment its existing line of rugged, industrial hazardous area antennas.  For details, call (614) 755-5091 or email info@analynk.com.

Why 4G?

Sure, everyone's talking about 5G and it's impact on industrial networks. By broadening the scope of applications possible with cellular technologies, there's no doubt 5G will connect industry like never before. However, it won't be soon.

The unfortunate truth is that features specific for industrial 5G use are not expected to be part of the 5G standard until 2021.  If you then consider the years it will take to introduce production runs of 5G chips, smooth out production processes, and stabilize their performance in varying applications, you're at least 4-5 years away from meaningful industrial 5G implementation.

In the meantime, non-public networks, owned and managed by large organizations or service providers, will be the most logical and efficient way to solve the challenges of availability, data privacy, reliability, and quick rollouts. This, coupled with backward compatibility from 4G LTE to 5G being a core strategy of the 3GPP consortium, presents a strong argument toward the adoption of 4G LTE networks as the most logical and effcient path forward.

Considering that 4G LTE's momentum continues, and forecasts predict it will continue to grow its user base for years to come, it stands to reason that "4G now" is the perfect bridge for adoption as you move toward Industry 4.0 and 5G.

Industrial 5G Communications

Smartphone users aren't the only ones waiting for 5g. Industrial companies are patiently looking forward to the new 5G wireless mobile standard. Owners and operators see industrial 5G as key to making their production plants and operations more flexible, more autonomous, and more efficient than ever before.

Today, most industrial facilities still communicate via wires and cables. With the advent and adoption of the new 5G communications standard, that will all change. 

With 5G peak download speeds of 20 Gb/s (gigabits per second) and 5G peak upload speeds of 10 Gb/s, wireless data transmission for comprehensive factory networks and equipment will communicate at speeds comparable or better than cables. 

The potential of 5G implementation is truly mind boggling, particularly when you consider its huge effect on Industry 4.0, making factories much more productive and less costly to operate. 5G technology has the potential to integrate picking systems, industrial robots, quality control systems, warehousing and autonomous vehicles - harmoniously tying the entire manufacturing process together through a secure, ultrafast, and robust network.

All major industries, including chemicals, primary metals, water treatment, automobiles, aerospace, power generation and oil & gas production, are biding their time and evaluating the promise of 5G's features for their processes. For example, factories will be able to simultaneously transmit data for an astounding 1 million IIoT devices per square kilometer! This easily accommodates all the wireless field instruments for a production line or even an entire plant. Speeds for industrial 5G are at the lower end of the millisecond range. This means instant response to systems upsets or process abnormalities. With 5G, the virtues of augmented reality in the industrial environment will be fully realized, opening the door for a new level of interchange between man and industrial process.

There’s nothing new about wireless communication in industry. Private LTE (Long-Term Evolution) networks are already being used, and process control equipment companies have been successfully implementing Industrial WLAN for quite some time. But since 5G is not yet widely available, Industrial WLAN research and development continues in parallel. However, these networks are nowhere near 5G in terms of performance and speed. 

Even though the international mobile radio standards organization 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) published the commercial mobile wireless network standard for 5G in late 2018,  there still are no published standards for the industrial 5G. 3GPP expects to have that completed by the middle of 2020.

Analynk Wireless, LLC

https://analynk.com

(614) 755-5091