Advantages of 5G: Understanding New Applications and Opportunities
Next-gen wireless network capabilities offer the potential for revolutionary applications extending far beyond smartphones and other mobile devices. With 5G enabling new limits for wireless speed, storage and connectivity, this will enable a range of new applications and use cases for industry and consumers alike. From the evolution of the IoT to revolutionary advances in how AI is used in the real world, many of tomorrow’s most exciting technological advances will depend on 5G connectivity.
On May 24th, in partnership with SGInnovate, we hosted this webinar with speakers from Singapore and the Nordics to share about new applications and opportunities that 5G could bring, and examples of use cases enabled by 5G.
Below is a brief summary of the event for the discussion and webinar recording.
The session started with introductions about SGInnovate by Bryan Teo, Assistant Manager - Community & Partnerships, and Nordic Innovation House Singapore by Nicole Cham, Tech Innovation and Startup Lead. Followed by Nordic companies, Axis Communications and Immersal, presenting successful use cases of 5G in their innovations for selected industries and consumers.
Presentation by Axis Communications:
Co-creating to 5G Success
Founded in Sweden, Axis Communications enables a smarter and safer world by creating solutions for improving security and business performance. As a network technology company and industry leader, Axis offers solutions in video surveillance, access control, intercom, and audio systems. Axis believes 5G is set to disrupt and transform many industries with promising developments and growth opportunities. For instance, they are emerging 5G use cases where efficient broadband can bring the most value to add for early adaptors in public surveillance for cities and transportation. Other industries include manufacturing and critical infrastructure where use cases are targeted at mission-critical IoT such as production automation, robotic control and asset tracking.
5G capabilities to connect devices and machines to secure and optimise networks from any place at any time – enable new ways to work, think and solve traditional business challenges. Also, for 5G to be successful, it will depend heavily on partnerships with industry players and customers coming together to co-create and test.
“For 5G to be successful, partnership is core.”
Presentation by Immersal:
Spatial Mapping & Visual Positioning for Everyone, Everywhere, on Every Device
Based in Finland, Immersal (part of Hexagon AB) creates the markerless spatial mapping and localisation technology which became the Immersal SDK and Cloud Service. It enables developers to build immersive, persistent and shared AR experiences and applications. Spatial AR has use cases in many areas, here are four key verticals engaged by Immersal. To enable all verticals, customers will require a low-latency, high efficient 5G network, and user exact position and location of the phone or AR glasses.
Public spaces – Easy-to-use AR navigation
Industrial applications – AR-assisted maintenance
Entertainment – Gamified AR experiences, even at city-scale
Advertisement and infotainment – Relevant interactive virtual content at the right location
Panel Discussion
Next, we deep-dive into the main discussion about ‘Advantages of 5G: Understanding New Applications and Opportunities’. The panel includes Connie Ang, Senior Director – Innovation and Strategic Partnership & Centre Director of FutureNow Innovation Centre at Singtel (Singapore), Tricia Sim, Business Development Manager of Future Business APAC at Axis Communications (Sweden), Matias Koski, Head of Global Sales at Immersal (Finland), and moderated by Tony Quek, Head of Information Systems Technology and Design (ISTD) Pillar and Director, Future Communications R&D Programme, Singapore University of Technology & Design (SUTD).
A Rise in 5G-enabled Use Cases
Matias started by pointing out that present-day bandwidth access and speedy network, allow different kinds of AR and VR experiences enabled by 5G. Singapore is a good example where 5G is widespread, providing opportunities to develop 5G applications such as virtual guides for tourists.
Connie agrees that 5G with its ultra-low latency will be a key enabler of XR (Extended Reality) technologies. “5G truly brings about the seamless and smooth immersive experience. It is also being leveraged in the corporate skills training space where many organisations, especially in countries which are very advanced with regards to 5G, are using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) enabled by 5G.” She continued by giving examples of Singtel’s 5G use cases in partnership with government agencies including:
Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) – leveraging on 5G to bring about next-generation port operations at Tuas Mega Port. This includes teleoperations of cranes, autonomous inspection using drones, fleet management of autonomous vehicles as well as enhanced automated container handlers that do all the shipping from ship to shore and picking up of containers.
National University Health System (NUHS) – neurosurgeons are assessing the use of MR-augmented approach (holographic visors) to locate brain tumours, and conduct 2D to 3D MRI brain scans and mapping that can enable faster, yet more precise incisions in the surgery process.
Finding the Right Ecosystem Partners in 5G
Tricia remarks, “If you are a Singaporean company interested in embarking on 5G, there are many places to seek support and actually expand this network to meet like-minded industry people. Like collaborating with Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) or tapping into grants by GovTech. Axis has done trials with different companies like Singtel, so we are also interested in co-ideate with you.”
As the Centre Director at Singtel’s FutureNow Innovation Centre, Connie elaborated, “Over here at Singtel, we also believe that the whole ecosystem approach is the key to success for 5G. We are building our extensive 5G ecosystem of partners consisting of app developers, solution providers, content developers and more. In Singtel, we have a very systematic and structured way of engaging our customers.”
“FutureNow Innovation Centre (FIC) is one of the very first customer landing points for customers, corporates and SMEs who are interested to hear about 5G. We can show them the capabilities of 5G, use cases across various industries, carry out an ideation dialogue, help them to identify what are some of their business pain points and challenges, and how 5G comes in here to help them to achieve their business aspirations. We would then channel them to CODE - Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE) - an agile, secure, and live 5G testbed facility installed with edge computing that can be custom-made to meet your business needs.”
5G Adopters in the Commercial Scene
Tricia and Connie believe that the manufacturing and oil/gas industries would be strong early adopters and would benefit most from 5G technologies and applications. Due to its high complexity, remote, and hardwired environments, these industries struggle to find secure, reliable and low-latency networks and connectivity.
“This is where the beauty of 5G comes in to address these challenges, and 5G shines when the use cases are when the applications are mission-critical.”
Embarking onto the 5G Journey
Matias encouraged companies to trust the local mobile network operations as they have already established a good ecosystem, and if you have something of value-adding for them, you should always apply. “The infrastructure already exists, so we need more developers to co-create these use cases. If you have any use cases in mind, most telecom operators are very keen to hear and collaborate with you.”
Connie mentioned that as of April 2022, a good 75% of Singapore has 5G outdoor coverage and around 300 indoor locations with 5G coverage such as large shopping complexes and SMRT North-East Line. Singapore will envelop the whole island with 5G coverage by 2025, stepping up new technologies and opportunities in this area. She added, “Find a partner who has an ecosystem of other partners like Singtel, Immersal, Axis Communications. Once you come through our doors, we can provide value to our other partners and your business. At the end of the day, it’s really not about using 5G for 5G's sake, it is to understand what are your business needs, the applications and technologies that you have.”
Tricia emphasised understanding the use cases and the potential of use cases. “Learn how 5G is helping other industries or your industries to solve some of the business challenges. Reach out to Axis - we have an open platform allowing companies to create applications on our cameras. If you are keen to look into any of the use cases or the ecosystems we have built over years with our hardware and software partners, we are happy to discuss further and co-create solutions together.”
Lastly, our moderator, Tony shares, “Step out of your comfort zone. Explore the different opportunities with 5G and build up new services. Treat Singapore as a springboard into new markets in Southeast Asia.”
Stay tuned, we will be sharing more on 5G and smart connectivity in the next months.
Nordic Innovation House is a connector accelerating high-quality Nordic tech startups, scaleups and growth companies in Singapore. We are the bridge between Nordic and Singapore ecosystem players, including government, corporate, SME, investors and accelerator hubs, to enable more collaborations. In Singapore, we work closely with Business Sweden, Innovation Norway, Business Iceland, the Embassy of Finland and the Embassy of Denmark in Singapore.
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