The Application of 5G Networks on Construction Sites and in Underground Mines: Successful Outcomes from Field Trials

The fifth generation of mobile communications 5G has been introduced to a variety of application domains enabling significant progress towards networked and adaptive systems. As the development of 5G was specifically tailored towards the requirements of industry, a broad knowledge of the technology has been built up in industrial production while also contributing to increasing the spread of data-driven technologies like machine learning. Other application domains are still lacking the widespread use and adoption of digital and data-driven technologies. The objective of the research project 5G.NAMICO is to utilize the gained expertise and knowledge from industrial production and contribute to the adoption of 5G in the application domains of construction and underground mining. We set up trail sites on a construction site and in an underground mine to determine how a 5G network must be designed to meet the domain-specific requirements. Use cases have been designed and implemented to verify the functionality as well as the benefits of the employed 5G networks. First network tests were conducted showing the potential of 5G to enable an end-to-end coverage, which provides the basis for the use of digital and data-driven technologies in the application domains of construction and underground mining.