Unmanned Systems Technology 024 | Wingcopter 178 l 5G focus l UUVs insight l CES report l Stromkind KAT l Intelligent Energy fuel cell l Earthsense TerraSentia l Connectors focus l Advanced Engineering report

42 Focus | 5G communications The lower latency of 3 ms compared to 20 ms for 4G also provides more responsive remote control. Tests at 2 Gbit/s in Austria allowed a remote pilot with VR glasses but without direct visual contact to control a UAV effectively. The use of 5G is also being tested in rural communities. 5G RuralFirst in the UK is testing the benefits of the technology for spectrum-sharing strategies and smart farming, in partnership with the Agri-Epi Centre. The study includes links to UAVs, autonomous tractors and for remote veterinary inspections. In the Netherlands, a network operator is testing a UAV for precision agriculture that can continuously measure whether growing conditions are optimal. Using the mobile network, the UAV can be used to water crops very precisely or to adapt nutrient levels as required. Summary 2019 marks the start of the practical roll-out of 5G technology for unmanned systems of all kinds. The technology has matured through Releases 14 and 15, and with Release 16 frozen at the end of 2018, chip makers are launching products to support the specification. These chips are designed to support a wide range of applications alongside high-volume smartphone designs. Adding the V2X capabilities provides autonomous system designers with scalable, low- latency, secure comms systems. Unlike before, the new specification also allows for the infrastructure to be shared between telecoms operators, opening up possibilities for private UGV operators to access and manage networks that were previous restricted. The higher bandwidth opens up opportunities as well for ultra-high resolution video from UAVs and for passengers in driverless cars, while the lower latency provides more reliable and responsive remote control of all kinds of unmanned craft in the air, on the ground and at sea. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Richard Porter at Meridian, Mark Barrett at Blu Wireless Technology and Liam Devlin at Plextek RFI for their help with researching this article. February/March 2019 | Unmanned Systems Technology CHINA Huawei/HiSilicon +86 75 5285 67695 www.hisilicon.com ZTE +86 55 2677 0000 www.zte.com.cn NETHERLANDS NXP Semiconductors +31 24 353 9111 www.nxp.com UK Blu Wireless Technology - www.bluwireless.co.uk Plextek RFI +44 1799 533200   www.plextekrfi.com USA Airspan Networks +1 561 893 8670 www.airspan.com Skyworks +1 781 376 3000 www.skyworks.com Qualcomm + +1 858 587 1121 www.qualcomm.com Examples of 5G technology suppliers A UAV has been testing out 5G with technology from ZTE for potato farming in the Netherlands (Courtesy of KPN)