5G Private Networks – Future productivity in a changed world

To say 2020/21 has been an interesting ride for businesses would be something of an understatement, with offices and factories closed, supply chains drying up and the world almost grinding to a halt. As we finally begin to open things up again, we can properly see what has changed, and that some things will never be the same again. Hybrid and remote working is here to stay and has shown to have massive benefits to staff and businesses alike, not to mention the environmental benefits of commuters no longer clogging up the roads and motorways.  

For this hybrid model to really work for businesses the ability to effortlessly access data anywhere at any time will be critical. Add to this growing demand for cloud transformation and big data which are driving trends such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, the demand for high quality, ubiquitous data coverage has never been greater. 5G private networks offer part of the solution, in fact there are already future minded organisations who are embracing the technology and reaping the benefits.  Such private networks are already driving innovation in areas including logistics, transportation, manufacturing and healthcare.

At the CSA Catapult’s Innovation Centre, we have recently installed and commissioned a private 5G network.  This highly configurable and scalable, software defined radio (SDR) based platform will act as a hardware testbed, allowing us to work with the UK supply chain to improve and advance performance of 5G and future private networks. Such testbeds also offer the opportunity for these solutions to be adopted into mainstream telecoms networks and leverage government support for diversification of the UK telecoms infrastructure.  The opportunity is real and significant for UK companies.

So what are the benefits of a 5G private network?

Security is one key consideration, private 5G networks offer full local control,  allowing secure data capture, data processing and analysis, potentially without data having to leave site. Data bandwidth and low latency allow for the movement of vast quantities of data in near real time. Network slicing, is another key feature of 5G, allowing the creation of multiple virtual networks each tailored and optimised around a specific usage scenario bringing life to industrial IOT, big data and Industry 4.0. Importantly these 5G networks also enable large-scale secure connection to a single site from multiple geographically dispersed sites even in remote, hard to reach areas which drives additional usage scenarios such as utilities.  

This guest blog was written by Tudor Williams, Interim Technical Director & Head of RF and Microwave at Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult. Follow CSA Catapult on Twitter and LinkedIn.