Construction company trials 5G edge networking

Australian-based Taylor Construction has completed a trial of what claims to be the first documented 5G enterprise use case with an enterprise-grade 5G edge networking solution by LTE and 5G wireless edge solutions specialist, Cradlepoint.

Taylor Construction said it is already experiencing the wide area network (WAN) speeds and coverage it needs – including 20 times the performance of its 4G connection – to support a range of bandwidth and latency sensitive connected devices and applications on its construction sites.

5G wireless edge solutions

The trial followed the release of Cradlepoint’s portfolio of 5G wireless edge solutions for business in Australia in May, and its coinciding roll-out with Telstra’s high-performance 5G network.

Taylor Construction identified a construction site where it could trial Telstra’s Enterprise Wireless solution and Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for Branch, delivered through a Cradlepoint E3000 5G-optimised router with a ruggedised W2005 5G Wideband Adapter built for outdoor placement.

“The Cradlepoint 5G solution, enabled by the Telstra 5G network, has transformed our ability to employ high-performing enterprise-grade applications, top to bottom,” says Christian Neyle, IT manager for Taylor Construction.

The performance the company is now getting with 5G will enable it to deploy its current 5G-ready high-tech applications, made possible by the Wireless WAN. Taylor is experimenting with the following applications:

• holographic building visualisation: Microsoft HoloLens is a type of mixed-reality smart glasses that Taylor employees and customers can wear on-site to render a virtual model of the building or elements of the construction process such as holographic structural steel, framing, or electrical schematics
• wide-area safety scanning: 360-degree 8K streaming and QR code scanning from wireless video cameras enables digital induction tracking, which improves risk management by automating the process of ensuring every person on site has completed safety training
• IoT structural sensing: smart sensors affixed to rebar and embedded in concrete aggregate and send data to the Cradlepoint router, then onto the cloud. This can help Taylor determine if concrete is poured correctly and track any shifting of the concrete for years to come
• real-time design display: the Taylor team needs to be able to make changes to digital blueprints in real time and display on tablets and large monitors in the trailer
• large-site failover: the IT team also would like to investigate replacing their expensive back-up fibre line with 5G, gaining fibre-like speeds with the diversity of a wireless connection.

“Taylor Construction is an example of how organisations can use 5G to transform their business and drive new ways to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, and compete,” says George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint. “Taylor was able to leverage 5G to quickly implement innovative new applications and so can just about any business in any industry.”

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