By James Blackman
Maybe it is just the way we ask the questions, but… test and measurement company Keysight Technologies has sought, effectively, to dispel any rumour and disquiet in the ranks about delays with industrial-grade 5G devices to go with industrial-grade private 5G networks. The US-based firm responded robustly, in writing, to a volley of email questions following its announcement last month (?) of a “range of enhancements” to its 5G ‘network emulation solution’.
These are to enable chipset and device makers to quickly develop 5G designs with the latest Release 15-through-17 capabilities – “for consumer, industry and government applications”. The message about consumer devices fell on deaf ears, but the concept of pushing-through Release 16 and 17 units for industry raised interest – especially in light of 4.0 frustrations that there are no (or few) proper-industrial 5G devices to attach to shiny new 5G networks.
This is not up for dispute, we reckon; the private 5G market, as it exists, is populated with Release 15 level devices, and most of these are smartphones and tablets, only made ‘industrial’ by some ruggedised garb. Check out the recent discussion with Vodafone (and anywhere else in the Enterprise IoT Insights archives), acknowledging the chicken-and-egg scenario with industrial 5G networks and devices.
As it stands, industrial 5G is just a promise, written in the 3GPP documentation and tested in hardware in Kesight-style test labs. Which is not to say its new ‘network emulation solution’ is not important; it looks downright essential to get the Industry 4.0 market moving. The firm has spent a year with chipset makers verifying the performance of advanced Release 16 (‘Rel-16’, etc) level chipsets, it says, scheduled to land later this year.
A statement says: “Keysight has used the enhanced network emulation platform to realise several industry-first 5G achievements in collaboration with leading chipset makers. Industry milestone achievements include the first 10 Gbps downlink (DL) IP data throughput demonstration in June 2021 and the first 3.5 Gbps UL IP data throughput demonstration in January 2022.”
Vice president and general manager of Keysight’s wireless test group, Cao Peng comments: “We’re witnessing the first commercial Rel-16 deployments this spring and expect to see early Rel-17 implementations towards the end of 2022. Keysight… continues to provide a future-proof test platform for chipset makers, device manufacturers, network operators, test labs, system integrators, and OT vendors to rapidly develop and verify 5G devices and networks.”
These are all the parties tasked with turning on the industrial 5G tap; many of them, at least in the systems integration and industrial automation games, roll their eyes that ‘industrial 5G’ is ready to roll. It is not even a 2023 story, they say; 5G-geared Industry 4.0 will happen when Release 17 is locked and loaded into commercially available chips and modules, and integrated into industrial machinery. Which is a 2024 story, at earliest.
But is this a delay? Or is this just the natural cycle for cellular? Like Vodafone said, in the above-linked story, we have been here before, notably with NB-IoT – which is only just now, after being introduced in Release 13 in 2016, starting to look like the real deal. And so, these questions and these answers, should be considered in this context: a long delay or a long wait; quite frustrating but quite normal; discussed in email, and not in conversation.
Either way, Keysight’s answers are thorough, and its defence is robust. The 5G-end of the industrial IoT market is on track (“as per expectations”), with development and testing of industrial-grade 5G devices starting to motor (“progressing rapidly”). All the answers below are from Neil Payne, marketing manager for 5G network emulation solutions at Keysight Technologies.
For more on this topic, look out for the new editorial report and webinar session on industrial 5G (from setting standard to becoming standard) on April 28, featuring Head of IoT Business Development at Vodafone Business Phil Skipper, Chair of the Technical Specification Group at MFA (MUlteFire Alliance) Asimakis Kokkos and Head of Technology Ecosystems at Nokia, and Leo Gergs, Senior Analyst at ABI Research, among others.
