OREANDA-NEWS. NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE:6701) today announced that it will conduct a trial of remote construction technologies with KDDI Corporation and Obayashi Corporation, with the aim of achieving smart civil engineering utilizing 5G, the next-generation wireless communication standard.

The trial aims to verify the improved workability and quality of remote construction by applying the large-capacity, low-latency communication featured in 5G to construction machinery, thereby enabling the transmission of high-definition video that is difficult to achieve with existing mobile communications.

The companies will undertake verification by combining 5G wireless infrastructure with an existing remote control system for construction machinery. In the experiment, video taken by multiple units of high-definition 4K cameras mounted in construction machinery will be transmitted to the remote controller via 5G wireless infrastructure utilizing beamforming through a multi-element antenna supporting the 28GHz band.

Unlike existing LTE and Wi-Fi networks, 5G wireless infrastructure is capable of high-speed transmission of large-capacity, high-definition video with low-latency. This allows workers to conveniently gain an accurate impression of a situation using high-definition video sent from remotely located construction machinery. Moreover, the three companies will also verify advances in construction quality and efficiency through improved remote control workability, such as real-time changes in the position and direction of construction machinery.

"We expect that 5G will play an essential role in developing a better society through collaboration with a variety of industries and that 5G will contribute to improvement of the quality of construction and civil engineering," said Akira Matsunaga, Senior Director, Mobile Network Technical Development, KDDI Corporation. "We sincerely wish that the trial this time will verify the advantages of 5G in the application of construction engineering and that we can move forward towards the realization of a better society."

"The introduction of robotics to the construction field, including remote-control capabilities, is making substantial progress," said Hideo Katsumata, Executive Officer / General Manager, Technical Research Institute, Obayashi Corporation. "We believe that the 5G communication technology opens the possibility of greatly advancing the operation of construction robots. Going forward, we will continue to promote research and development in 5G-enabled, remotely controlled robots that can be utilized for a wide range of construction purposes."

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society.