Iskratel and Telekom Slovenije test their 5G Campus Network which enables the smart factory

The joint solution has enabled the development of new business models and the testing of a smart 5G infrastructure. It connects a number of state-of-the-art virtual networks for individual business verticals, including smart factories. This is a key sector enabled by 5G, which will offer manufacturers and operators with significantly greater control and automation.

Kristijan Melinc, Sales Director of BU Core at Iskratel, said: “I am very proud we have deployed a 5G network in our own business environment. We leveraged our expertise in Core networks and together with our partners shaped a complete solution that will allow us to address demands for campus networks in various industries. We were able to learn much more about the intricacies of 5G applications from our real-world installation rather than from theory or lab-style test projects.”

Telekom Slovenije’s Member of the Management Board, responsible for technology, Matjaž Beričič, MSc, said: “5G is an evolutionary upgrade of 4G. It enables the development of new and innovative mobile ICT solutions across industry verticals. Reliable, fast, and responsive wireless data transfer between devices will enable the industry to stay flexible and competitive. 4G / 5G technology enables advanced multimedia services, the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) services and the digitisation of business verticals – while providing reliability and cybersecurity from the outset. We plan the public mobile network in such a way that within one smart physical infrastructure we will enable state-of-the-art virtualised networks for different verticals – in different ways – as fully virtualised or as a hybrid public-private, so called “campus” network. With Iskratel, we have established a reference case in which we will be able to test different capabilities, implementations and new ideas for new opportunities on specific use cases.”

In addition to both partners evaluating technical performance, the Institute for Non-Ionizing Radiation (INIR), an independent and accredited national organisation, also performed measurements of electromagnetic radiation of the 5G base station in Iskratel’s production facilities. Measurements were performed at maximum base station traffic, with four test terminals that simultaneously performed a data rate test at the time of the measurements.

“The results of the measurements show that the radiation exposure at all measuring points is far below the warning values set by the Regulation on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to electromagnetic radiation and the values set by Council Recommendation 1999/519/ES on limiting exposure to electromagnetic radiation (about Hz to 300 GHz),” explained Tomaž Terček, INIR.

Sašo Šimec, COO at Iskratel and EMS Business Unit director, added: “We continue to develop the smart factory as a key 5G use case. State-of-the-art connectivity is a cornerstone to establish this and links the real-time analogue world of the bustling factory with digital processing power that firmly resides in the cloud, as its nervous centre. Artificial Intelligence alerts our staff of deviations from the optimal processes and workflows, well ahead of time. Therefore 5G increases the safety of our staff, as well as improving our bottom line. We are convinced the essential building blocks of this solution can be reused in other industry verticals and deliver similar value to different kinds of operations.”