Sea ports, sprawling complexes teaming with cranes and giant piles of lego-like cargo containers, seem like the perfect application for 5G wireless technology. Only one problem. Most of the computers that run machinery, like the cranes, operate in Layer 2, while the 5G network is in Layer 3. Layer 2’s ethernet traffic is forbidden on Layer 3.
Hong Kong-based eSix’s middleware product, known as edgeWares, has fixed that problem, enabling the use of the 5G network with the transparent transmission of industrial ethernet protocol (using a Layer 2 overlay). As a result, industrial companies can move from wired networks to wireless with uninterrupted connectivity in extreme environments. One version of the 5G CPE (eCPE7010) was installed in the production center of YanTian and TianJin Port to provide real-time monitoring and analysis of the operations, as well as for remote control of programmable logic computers.
eSix’s edgeWares solution was used in upgrading the industrial applications at the ports by replacing industrial ethernet with a wireless 5G network, enabling the remote control of quay cranes, self-driving trucks and video surveillance in what they now call a “Smart Port.”
“There are various application scenarios of edgeWares in the Smart Port,” eSix wrote in EET Asia. “For instance, edgeWares can empower the 5G Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMMB) feature in video surveillance. Moreover, by combining edgeWares and Enhanced Mobile Broadband and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications features of 5G, industrial applications like autopilot AGV and remote control of quay cranes can be enabled.”
Along with remote-controlled ship-to-shore cranes, the port-of-the-future will have automated gantry cranes, automated cargo-moving vehicles, condition monitoring, predictive maintenance and drones, according to Orange Business Services, a French multinational digital services company.
eSix Limited has also launched an industrial grade 5G CPE product that includes WiFi capability. Known as “Xatellite,” the unit supports dual 5G modules with dual SIM cards and WiFi 6, which enables dual-band frequencies 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, allowing different ranges, speeds, channels and interference avoidance.
In May, Orange Business Services announced that it was working with the Port of Antwerp in the Netherlands on a 5G private network project that uses 5G NR. The 5G network has already enabled tugboats to communicate in real time. It also powers pan-tilt-zoom cameras attached to tugboats that send images to the port control room.
“The speed and low latency of 5G will enable a massive variety of smart port use cases,” Orange said in a prepared statement. “Take computer vision, which can be combined with AI to learn how to recognize patterns and objects in video feeds. The Port of Antwerp has deployed 600 cameras that let it automatically monitor berths, people and traffic flow around the port area to make the site more efficient.”
By J. Sharpe Smith Inside Tower Technology Editor
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