Hitachi adds 5G to its Silicon Valley Research Center

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Working with Ericsson, Hitachi is hoping to expand its Lumada IoT platform, which it says will improve machine uptime, whilst improving data handling and efficiency.

The Hitachi lab in Silicon Valley.
(Image credit: Hitachi.)

Hitachi has partnered with Ericsson to introduce a dedicated 5G network at its Silicon Valley Research Center, as part of the company’s Research & Development Division. 

“Ericsson has been working with Hitachi and its ecosystem partners to identify use cases for co-development of industry vertical 5G-enabled IoT solutions to meet product pipeline demands as 5G adoption accelerates,” said Erik Josefsson, head of advanced industries at Ericsson. “This new dedicated 5G network is another proof point in our collaboration moving forward.”

Hitachi is hoping to use 5G technology to further develop its Lumada product, which is the company’s IoT platform for manufacturing, which enables businesses to improve uptime, efficiency, whilst boosting data handling.

“Hitachi’s Silicon Valley Research Center will serve as critical proving grounds for currently emerging technologies relating to collaborative robotic systems."

Sonia Chernova, Georgia Tech.

“Hitachi’s Silicon Valley Research Center will serve as critical proving grounds for currently emerging technologies relating to collaborative robotic systems,” said Sonia Chernova, associate professor in the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Machines at Georgia Tech. “Adaptive automation requires access to high quality, multi-modal data from a wide range of sensors. Hitachi’s 5G capabilities are poised to revolutionize how such data is collected, aggregated, and analyzed at scale in real-time, helping to make the next generation of advanced robotic systems possible.”

Enhancing its IoT platform

Hitachi plans to enhance its IoT platform, and transform it into what it is calling: ‘Lumada × 5G’, which the company says will enable it to create added value for customers.

To provide the facility with 5G connectivity, Hitachi America has partnered with Ericsson to install a private 5G network at the company’s Silicon Valley Research Center in Santa Clara, California.

And Hitachi will begin by testing manufacturing solutions using the 5G collaborative teleoperation technology co-developed with Georgia Tech, whilst continuing to work closely with Ericsson on joint development initiatives for industry solutions as a result of this new dedicated 5G lab network.

With its new 5G network, Hitachi hopes to further develop its work on the remote control of industrial robots by human operators, as well as enabling intuitive operation of robots by analysis/control functions, located on a multi-access edge computing (MEC) server, with 5G and time-sensitive networking (TSN) serving as a digital backbone. 

Hitachi will continue to create innovative solutions through ‘Lumada × 5G’, which it will offer as part of its Vantara service, which offers storage solutions for enterprises and midsize organizations, but also offers other hardware, software, data analytics and consultation services. 



Dan Oliver
Dan Oliver

Dan is a British journalist with 20 years of experience in the design and tech sectors, producing content for the likes of Microsoft, Adobe, Dell and The Sunday Times. In 2012 he helped launch the world's number one design blog, Creative Bloq. Dan is now editor-in-chief at 5Gradar, where he oversees news, insight and reviews, providing an invaluable resource for anyone looking to stay up-to-date with the key issues facing 5G.