Agricultural farm machinery manufacturer John Deere has plans to open a new plant in Horizontina, Brazil later this year. What makes this location noteworthy, reports Mobile World Live, is the 5G connectivity that will be incorporated into the building plan.
Utilizing 3.5 GHz mid-band spectrum, John Deere is attempting to operate the plant using 80 percent mobile, 10 percent WiFi and 10 percent Ethernet. The transition is expected to progress gradually over the next five years, with initial capabilities drawing on 70 percent wired Ethernet and 30 percent WiFi.
John Deere’s principal architect of infrastructure and operations, John Wallin, told Mobile World Live that 5G will help streamline production by minimizing latency issues. “As we move towards autonomy in the factory, it becomes problematic,” he noted, “Especially when you get into a life safety issue waiting for something and then suddenly your latency bumps up to a second when you had been running something much lower than that.”
Wallin added that a private 5G network is key when using cranes to move large pieces of equipment around the factory. John Deere has 70 manufacturing plants in several different countries and already incorporates 4G and 5G at its U.S. headquarters. He said that John Deere would be working with Brazilian regulator ANATEL to set up the Horizontina facility. ANATEL grants spectrum licenses measured units with a property and then charges for device licenses at each location.
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