One of the pillars of the 5G, low-latency real time communications, can be achieved through Time-Critical Communication (TCC), enabled by 3GPP’s Release 16. On October 25, at EXPO 2020, in Dubai, Ericsson launched an end-to-end solution for Time-Critical Communication through its new Critical IoT product. Although some of the first use cases will enhance real-time media, such as cloud gaming, TCC will do much more, revolutionizing how industry deploys AR/VR, remote control, mobility automation and industrial control.
TCC combines the 3GPP-specified ultra-reliable, low latency communication (URLLC) standard with Ericsson innovations to mitigate major causes of latency. It can be deployed as a software upgrade on public and private 5G networks, in wide and local areas, on any 5G frequency band. It resolves lags and interruptions, delivering consistent low latency (50ms to 1ms) end-to-end at specified guarantee levels (99.9 percent to 99.999 percent) – enabling time-critical use cases at scale.
Ericsson recently partnered with Deutsche Telekom and Telstra to show the benefits of reducing Low Latency Low Loss Scalable (L4S) throughput in an interactive cloud game. Ericsson has also reached a new milestone with MediaTek by proving that 5G can deliver 1ms consistent low latency with 99.99 percent reliability in both uplink and downlink on mmWave band.
Ericsson has been piloting 5G for time-critical use cases with customers and industry partners for several years. In April, the OEM provided a UK vehicle battery manufacturer with a proof-of-concept virtual reality digital twin in partnership with communications service provider BT. In 2018, TCC was used in a pilot for self-driving electric trucks in Sweden.
5G has been integrated with robotics company ABB’s Time Sensitive Networks, which require perfect time synchronization on the factory floor in Sweden. Audi began using 5G technologies for Critical IoT automation applications to meet the latency demands of industrial automation. Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology in Germany is researching how low-latency 5G can improve jet engine manufacturing processes.
By J. Sharpe Smith Inside Towers Technology Editor
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