Lufthansa Technology, a subsidiary of the German airline, has set up its own 5G network in a 8500 m2 hangar with room for four machines. The maintenance company is using the network to superimpose 3D representations of the planned cabin interior onto empty aircraft fuselages using virtual and augmented reality on tablets and other end devices. This means that the technicians can continuously synchronize the fittings with the engineers’ plans. In addition, it is also possible to contact the component developers through a video link. In the future, Lufthansa Technology plans to try out remote inspections of engine parts via high-resolution video streams.

This can’t be done with WiFi or LTE technology due to the high volume of CAD data that has to be transferred for 3D representations. The data is processed using the concept of edge computing on-site in a small data center. Vodafone is working on this project as the service and technology partner, and the hardware is from Nokia .