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The significance of the Tactile Internet and 5G for digital agriculture

Die Bedeutung des taktilen Internets und 5G für die digitale Landwirtschaft
  • Norman Franchi

    Norman Franchi received the Diploma (Dipl. Ing.) degree in electrical engineering and the Ph. D. degree, under the supervision of R. Weigel, from Friedrich–Alexander-University (FAU) Erlangen–Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, in 2007 and 2015, respectively. From 2007 to 2011, he was with Continental AG, Nuremberg and Regensburg, Germany, and iSyst Intelligent Systems GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany, where he was a System and Application Engineer for design and test of networked control systems in the Automotive R&D Sector. From 2012 to 2015, he was with the Institute for Electronics Engineering, FAU Erlangen–Nuremberg. Since 2015, he has been with the Vodafone Chair and 5G Lab Germany at TU Dresden, Germany, where he is leading the research group Resilient Mobile Communications. Since 2019, he has been managing director of the 5G Lab GmbH, Dresden, Germany. His current research interests include 5G for agriculture and construction, 5G mesh networks, wireless control of swarm drones, control-communications co-design, AI-enabled resilient wireless communications systems, multi-connectivity in mobile networks, and cognitive radio systems.

    , Gerhard P. Fettweis

    Gerhard Fettweis received the Ph. D. degree under H. Meyr’s supervision from RWTH Aachen, in 1990. He has been a Vodafone Chair Professor with the Technische Universitat Dresden, since 1994, and has been heading the Barkhausen Institute, since 2018. He was with IBM Research, San Jose, CA, USA, for a period of one year. He moved to TCSI Inc., Berkeley, CA, USA. He coordinates the 5G Laboratory, Germany, and the two German Science Foundation (DFG) Centers with the Technische Universitat Dresden, namely CFAED and HAEC. His team has spun-out 16 start-ups and setup funded projects in volume of close to EUR 1/2 billion, Dresden. His research interests include wireless transmission and chip design for the wireless/IoT platforms, with 20 companies from Asia/Europe/U.S. sponsoring his research. He is a member of the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the German Academy of Engineering (acatech), the multiple IEEE recognitions, and the VDE Ring of Honor. He is the Co-Chairs of the IEEE 5G Initiative and helped organizing the IEEE conferences, most notably as a TPC Chair of ICC, in 2009, and TTM, in 2012. He was the General Chair of VTC Spring 2013 and DATE 2014.

    and Thomas Herlitzius

    Thomas Herlitzius is Director of the of Institute for Natural Material Technology at Technische Universität Dresden and was heading the chair Agricultural Systems and Technology since 2007. Until 1992 Thomas was working as a Scientific Research Engineer for agricultural machines at the TU Dresden and received his PhD in 1995. He began his industrial career in 1992 joining John Deere Works at Zweibrücken as a Design Engineer followed by team leader and Manager Combine Engineering.

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Abstract

The demand for internet access and data transfer is the key driver of mobile communications technologies. The next step is wireless real-time networking. The “Tactile Internet” demands completely new technologies. Low latency, short response times, high reliability and resilience, a network of edge clouds and security are basic requirements. Therefore, 5G is developed. Novel use cases are industrial automation, autonomous vehicles, e-health, and the Internet of Things. For agriculture, 5G is a crucial technology enabler for robotization and Smart Farming processes. Agriculture needs own ad-hoc radio network solutions to efficiently provide coverage and manage data transfer, privacy and flexibility. The synergy of cellular and local mesh communications can solve the problem of unreliable communication and allows farmers to take full control of their data.

Zusammenfassung

Die Nachfrage nach Internetzugang und Datentransfer ist der wichtigste Treiber für mobile Kommunikationstechnologien. Der nächste Schritt ist die drahtlose Echtzeit-Vernetzung. Das “taktile Internet” erfordert völlig neue Technologien. Geringe Latenz, kurze Reaktionszeiten, hohe Zuverlässigkeit, Ausfallsicherheit, eine Vernetzung von Edge Clouds und Datensicherheit sind Grundvoraussetzungen. Deshalb wird 5G entwickelt. Neuartige Anwendungsfälle sind industrielle Automatisierung, autonome Fahrzeuge, E-Health und das Internet der Dinge. Für die Landwirtschaft ist 5G ein entscheidender Technologie-Enabler für die Robotisierung und Smart Farming Prozesse. Die Landwirtschaft benötigt eigene Ad-hoc-Funknetzlösungen, um effizient Abdeckung zu bieten und Datenübertragung, Datenschutz und Flexibilität zu verwalten. Die Synergie von zellulärer und lokaler Mesh-Kommunikation kann das Problem der Kommunikation lösen und ermöglicht den Landwirten die volle Kontrolle über ihre Daten.

Award Identifier / Grant number: 28DE101A18

Funding statement: The LANDNETZ » Saxon 5G Testbed is funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (Grant No.: 28DE101A18) and the State of Saxony.

About the authors

Norman Franchi

Norman Franchi received the Diploma (Dipl. Ing.) degree in electrical engineering and the Ph. D. degree, under the supervision of R. Weigel, from Friedrich–Alexander-University (FAU) Erlangen–Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, in 2007 and 2015, respectively. From 2007 to 2011, he was with Continental AG, Nuremberg and Regensburg, Germany, and iSyst Intelligent Systems GmbH, Nuremberg, Germany, where he was a System and Application Engineer for design and test of networked control systems in the Automotive R&D Sector. From 2012 to 2015, he was with the Institute for Electronics Engineering, FAU Erlangen–Nuremberg. Since 2015, he has been with the Vodafone Chair and 5G Lab Germany at TU Dresden, Germany, where he is leading the research group Resilient Mobile Communications. Since 2019, he has been managing director of the 5G Lab GmbH, Dresden, Germany. His current research interests include 5G for agriculture and construction, 5G mesh networks, wireless control of swarm drones, control-communications co-design, AI-enabled resilient wireless communications systems, multi-connectivity in mobile networks, and cognitive radio systems.

Gerhard P. Fettweis

Gerhard Fettweis received the Ph. D. degree under H. Meyr’s supervision from RWTH Aachen, in 1990. He has been a Vodafone Chair Professor with the Technische Universitat Dresden, since 1994, and has been heading the Barkhausen Institute, since 2018. He was with IBM Research, San Jose, CA, USA, for a period of one year. He moved to TCSI Inc., Berkeley, CA, USA. He coordinates the 5G Laboratory, Germany, and the two German Science Foundation (DFG) Centers with the Technische Universitat Dresden, namely CFAED and HAEC. His team has spun-out 16 start-ups and setup funded projects in volume of close to EUR 1/2 billion, Dresden. His research interests include wireless transmission and chip design for the wireless/IoT platforms, with 20 companies from Asia/Europe/U.S. sponsoring his research. He is a member of the German Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), the German Academy of Engineering (acatech), the multiple IEEE recognitions, and the VDE Ring of Honor. He is the Co-Chairs of the IEEE 5G Initiative and helped organizing the IEEE conferences, most notably as a TPC Chair of ICC, in 2009, and TTM, in 2012. He was the General Chair of VTC Spring 2013 and DATE 2014.

Thomas Herlitzius

Thomas Herlitzius is Director of the of Institute for Natural Material Technology at Technische Universität Dresden and was heading the chair Agricultural Systems and Technology since 2007. Until 1992 Thomas was working as a Scientific Research Engineer for agricultural machines at the TU Dresden and received his PhD in 1995. He began his industrial career in 1992 joining John Deere Works at Zweibrücken as a Design Engineer followed by team leader and Manager Combine Engineering.

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Received: 2020-08-11
Accepted: 2021-02-02
Published Online: 2021-04-03
Published in Print: 2021-04-27

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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