5G will initially be used to provide outdoor coverage on the airport grounds, with 5G installed indoors at a later stage. The private network aims to provide more efficient, more reliable and faster connectivity than WiFi or public 4G across the airport grounds.
The companies say that the higher capacity of 5G means the airport will be able to deploy additional technologies such as mobile safety systems, IoT (Internet of Things), automated vehicles and track & trace technology.
Stephan Litjens, general manager, Nokia Digital Automation, commented, “Brussels Airport selecting Nokia Digital Automation Cloud platform to build industrial-grade private wireless, powering digital transformation with 4.9/LTE now and 5G next to create its vision of the future, is a great endorsement. Automation of airports is essential for increased efficiency, reliability and enhanced operational awareness as airports transform their business models.”
Mitch De Geest, CEO, Citymesh, added, “We are excited to support [Brussels Airport] in a variety of real-life use cases which were impossible to achieve with WiFi or on the public networks. Together with Brussels Airport we are pushing towards new frontiers which will allow industries all over Belgium to create a competitive edge by tapping into private mobile connectivity scenarios.”
