The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), a leading organization supporting the adoption of next-generation Wi-Fi services across the Wi-Fi ecosystem, has announced the world’s first Wi-Fi 6 Industrial Enterprise and IoT trial, as part of its ongoing Wi-Fi 6 program. Mettis Aerospace, a designer and manufacturer of precision-forged, machined and sub-assembled components for the aerospace and defense industry, will work with WBA members to test several use cases which include multi-stream live video monitoring; real-time energy monitoring; ultra-reliable low latency communications with sensors on critical systems and augmented reality for troubleshooting, on a Wi-Fi 6 network at its 27-acre West Midlands facility.
The trial, the first of a series of global trials, will enable the use of augmented reality, real-time monitoring of equipment and a host of other applications in an enterprise network environment designed to digitize Mettis’ production line.
The Mettis Aerospace environment is challenging from a connectivity perspective as it has a large area which needs to be covered with industrial radio interference that can disrupt signals. Some applications will require high bandwidth, others low latency and mission-critical applications need clear prioritization for data. Wi-Fi 6 is well-positioned to support the provision of cost-effective enterprise-level connectivity in this industrial environment, to these standards using the latest security capabilities.
The West Midlands region, under the leadership of the Worcestershire Local Enterprise Partnership, was selected to be the UK’s 5G Testbed for manufacturing and security by the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. This trial will demonstrate the role that Wi-Fi 6 has to play in the broader 5G ecosystem.
The trial is being managed by the WBA and Mettis Aerospace and supported by WBA members including British Telecom, Boingo, Broadcom, BSG Wireless, CableLabs, Cisco, HPE Aruba, and Intel.
Click for more information on the WBA Wi-Fi 6 trials.
