After completing three comprehensive proofs of concept (PoC) in the areas of ramp, cargo and terminal services, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW) International is moving forward with full deployment of a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)-based private 5G network, according to Adam Schipper, Director of Business Development, Transportation & Logistics, Ericsson North America. In February, Betacom, a Bellevue, WA-based systems integrator announced that it would deploy a private 5G network PoC at DFW.
“DFW selected this solution because they want to have control over the network and the data, along with the ability to share the network with airlines and tenants,” Schipper said. “In their PoCs, they discovered that the coverage, throughput, latency and reliability improvements they achieved with CBRS fundamentally improved the efficiency of services such as baggage handling.” CBRS is particularly suited to support high-priority wireless communication use cases in the areas of tracking assets and goods, biometrics, security and safety, baggage tracking, check-in and boarding management, he added.
Paul Puopolo, Executive VP of Innovation, DFW, said the airport plans a digital transformation using 5G private networks to provide connectivity to its 55,000 employees and everything within the 27 square-mile footprint of the airport, in an interview with Monica Paolini, Principal Analyst, Sensa Fili. Enterprises, such as airports, are attracted to private networks provided as a service because they are flexible and future technologies can be customized to specific needs, Puopolo said.
“From an efficiency standpoint, we know that IoT is going to grow. We know that autonomous vehicles will be a future mode of transportation, and we know that robotics, AR and VR are going to take a more active role in the future,” Puopolo said. “Automation will be used below the wing and above the wing and in the terminals and to move packages around for our cargo business or people through the airport. These new technologies require better connectivity – and this means more bandwidth, lower latency, and appropriate security.”
Betacom is offering airports 5G-as-a-Service (5GaaS), including a wireless private network using CBRS spectrum. This enables airports to use 4G and 5G technologies using dedicated spectrum and a private network within their own firewalls, according to Sensa Fili. Betacom designs, builds, and operates wireless private wireless networks for airports, as well as other enterprises.
“We do everything in-house,” Johan Bjorklund, CEO, Betacom, said in an interview with Paolini. “Our customers do not have to be experts at building or running wireless networks. They do not have to be experts in 4G or 5G. We are the experts, so they do not need to add one single headcount to get their own private wireless network working.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
Reader Interactions