Jakarta. 5G can take Indonesia’s fourth industrial revolution to the next level, as the fifth generation mobile network will bring greater efficiency and productivity for industries, according to Chinese tech giant Huawei.

"5G is key for industrial internet of things [IoT], intelligent manufacturing, and cloud collaboration. These are all the main factors for industry 4.0," Martin Wan, the regional marketing expert of the carrier network business group (CNBG) at Huawei, told a virtual conference on Thursday.

5G’s improved mobile network capacity, flexibility and ultra-low latency also demonstrates a myriad of industrial use cases, among others, smart manufacturing.

For instance, 5G-enabled machine vision can ease quality checks by providing early warnings and problem troubleshootings. This will consequently improve inspection standards.

 "There are many benefits [of 5G] for factories. We can improve productivity because it automates the entire process. We can improve the product quality because machines are more accurate [in detecting errors] than humans," Wan said.           

Smart ports are another industrial 5G use case. At ports, a single person controls one rubber tyred gantry (RTG). Not only is this inefficient, it can also be hazardous to the workers. With a 5G remote control, a person can control 4 RTGs. This also offers a safer work environment as outdoor work will shift to indoors. According to Huawei, loading efficiency can also jump between fifteen and twentyfold with 5G smart ports.

Blessed with abundant mineral resources, Indonesia is home to numerous mining companies. 

"The top two concerns for mining companies are safety and efficiency," Wan said, while adding that 5G could address these issues via unmanned trucks and excavators, as well as AI (artificial intelligence) monitoring on mining belt conveyors.

In Indonesia, Huawei assisted operators such as Telkomsel and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison (IOH) to roll out 5G services in several cities, although still with limited coverage, namely in the greater Jakarta area or Greater Jakarta, Solo, Medan, Balikpapan, Surabaya, Makassar, Bandung, Batam, and Denpasar.

Huawei also supported Telkomsel to provide 5G mmWave at motosports race MotoGP Mandalika. The race spectators were able to try out 5G-based, futuristic demonstrations, including humanoid robot, cloud gaming, 5G drone, virtual reality, and augmented reality (AR) industrial work instruction.