Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT want to explore the potential of the 5G wireless network for industry . To this end, they are testing the technology under real manufacturing conditions in their own machine hall in Aachen, in an Ericsson factory in Sweden, and in a Bosch semiconductor factory in Reutlingen. The two-and-a-half-year 5G-SMART: 5G for smart manufacturing project, funded by the EU , develops and tests 5G-compatible sensors for industrial applications.

The approach should make it possible to record process data within latencies of just a few milliseconds and provide the foundation for improved, cloud-based real-time evaluation to enhance manufacturing quality through accelerated process monitoring and faster output of machine control commands. The spread of application-ready 5G network technology is of crucial importance if Germany is not to lag behind its international competitors .