Japan's KDDI plans to work with NEC and construction company Obayashi Corporation to trial using 5G to power remote construction technologies.
The trial aims to apply the large capacity and low latency capabilities of 5G to construction machinery, enabling the transmission of high-definition video to support their remote operation.
Under the trial, the companies will combine 5G infrastructure with an existing remote control system for construction machinery.
Video taken by multiple 4K cameras mounted on the machinery will be transmitted to the remote controller over 5G using beamforming and a multi-element antenna supporting the 28-GHz band.
"We expect that 5G will play an essential role in developing a better society through collaboration with a variety of industries and that 5G will contribute to improvement of the quality of construction and civil engineering," KDDI senior director for mobile network technical development Akira Matsunaga said.
"We sincerely wish that the trial this time will verify the advantages of 5G in the application of construction engineering and that we can move forward towards the realization of a better society."
Obayashi executive officer Hideo Katsumata added that the company believes that 5G “opens the possibility of greatly advancing the operation of construction robots. Going forward, we will continue to promote research and development in 5G-enabled, remotely controlled robots that can be utilized for a wide range of construction purposes."