Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), a provider of turnkey submarine network solutions, has announced the deployment of a private 5G network on its submarine systems production and assembly site based in Calais, France.
ASN is part of telecommunications giant Nokia.
The inauguration of the network took place in the presence of Alain Biston, president of ASN, Patricia Fornet, director of industrial operations at ASN, Thomas Reynaud, CEO of Iliad Group and Pierre-Gaël Chantereau, CEO of Nokia France.
According to the company, more than two years of development and integration were needed to deploy the network, which it claims is the largest private industrial 5G network in Europe to date.
The project also demanded that ASN provide coverage to the 50,000m² (538,195ft²) of the Calais site, including 11 buildings and the loading docks, using 59 5G small cell antennas.
The deployment of the network and the accompanying Industry 4.0 programme is the result of collaboration between ASN and partners Nokia, Iliad, Free Pro, Sopra Steria and BSCA.
This network is one of the key elements of ASN’s Industry 4.0 project to modernise its industrial processes, optimise operational performance and improve working conditions for employees.
What’s more, ASN hopes the use of 5G will improve industrial processes through the automatic collection and processing of factory data and the acceleration of the integration of the Internet of Things (IoT) in industrial production.
The company reports that predictive algorithms will be used to support production and the efficient management of the storage of manufactured cables, which it says is a critical issue for the factory.
The use cases already developed for the network include digitisation of industrial processes, filling management of the cable storage tanks, optimisation of energy resource management, assistance in the maintenance of equipment and analysis of production incidents.
