In an unusual use of LTE, but one that may become more common as industries adopt 4G and 5G for private networking, Nokia has announced plans to digitize crane monitoring systems in Indonesia.
Nokia’s IP/MPLS network solution has been selected and deployed by Pelindo 4, a leading port management company in Indonesia, to provide LTE wireless connectivity for remote real-time monitoring of its crane performance and operation. The system uses a crane-mounted IP/MPLS router from Nokia to stream 24/7 real-time data over LTE.
Nokia, with its partner Kurnia Energy Engineering (KEE), has deployed its 7705 Service Aggregation Router–Hm, which extends IP/MPLS services over cellular and WLAN networks, on all the cranes across the Makassar Container Terminal (TPM). Makassar is the capital of Indonesia's South Sulawesi province.
With this networking capability, Pelindo 4 can now monitor container crane and rubber tyre gantry crane assets from its control room in real time for dynamic control and management of container cranes, leading, says Nokia, to greater operational efficiency and improved safety.
Nokia’s solution fully supports third-party crane monitoring systems. As a wireless extension of Pelindo 4’s operations network, it also creates opportunities for additional use cases, including the monitoring of trucks and water pollutants as well as container identification.
Private networks in general, and ports in particular, are likely to be a growing theme of 5G roll out. In fact Pelindo 4 is one of a number of port-based groups that have already made use of 4G. Nokia says it has deployed solutions for maritime that include private wireless networks at ports in Belgium and Finland.
