• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Blogs » Think Tank » Ensuring Predictable Wireless Connectivity in Supply-Chain Centers

Think Tank
Think Tank RSS FeedRSS

Ensuring Predictable Wireless Connectivity in Supply-Chain Centers

July 12, 2020
Mehmet Yavuz, SCB Contributor

Supply-chain companies have a unique set of requirements when it comes to wireless connectivity. These organizations are operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They also rely heavily on wireless connectivity both indoors and outdoors, two environments that present separate challenges for different types of wireless technologies.

For the last decade or more, “wireless” in supply chain meant two things: Wi-Fi or a public cellular network. Those were simply the only two options available to any business.

That circumstance has changed. With a recent decision by the Federal Communications Commission to make the citizens’ broadband radio service (CBRS) spectrum available for use by businesses, supply-chain firms now have a third option for achieving predictable mobility that can serve multiple needs on critical infrastructure: process automation through the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs), inventory management via rugged tablets that can also be vehicle mounted, and voice communications with push-to-talk handsets. This new option is called a private mobile network, and is poised to change how supply-chain firms look at wireless networks in their environments.

A private mobile network is very similar to the public cellular network that most of us use every day with our smartphones and tablets. It relies on technologies like LTE and, soon, 5G as the wireless protocols for connectivity. However, the networks themselves aren’t owned and operated by wireless service providers such as Verizon or AT&T. A private mobile network is an LTE or 5G network that is owned and operated by a single organization, and geographically bound by that company’s property, be it a railyard, warehouse, parking lot, or campus. In the U.S., these networks use the CBRS spectrum band between 3.55-3.7Ghz and can be deployed by enterprises to set up their very own LTE or 5G network. Yet it’s managed as easily as the Wi-Fi networks that these firms almost certainly already operate.

So why add a third wireless option when Wi-Fi already exists? It’s generally agreed that CBRS-based private mobile networks will work together with existing Wi-Fi networks and augment their capabilities. Right now, many Wi-Fi networks in supply-chain companies are already stretched to the breaking point, in terms of their ability to offer measurable service levels for latency and throughput for mission-critical applications running on enterprise-owned devices.

Second, each wireless access point that’s part of a private mobile network operates within a dedicated and interference-free spectrum, under FCC regulations in the U.S. Not only does this significantly reduce ongoing operational and support costs, it makes a private mobile network ideal for applications that need to be up and running at all times.

CBRS-based private mobile networks are also ideal for connectivity across outdoor settings such as transportation yards, warehouse locations, or manufacturing-site parking lots. With the ability to cover 1 million square feet of outdoor space with a single outdoor wireless access point, a private mobile network significantly lowers the amount of outdoor cabling required to support a wireless network infrastructure, thereby reducing a good chunk of your capital expense.

The need for mobility for this industry is real, with supply-chain facilities going through significant changes in layout and product placement across aisles on an hourly basis. With its ability to “hold onto” the signal in challenging environments, a CBRS-capable device can support a new set of applications that require real-time response from the network — for example, leveraging computer vision to automatically and wirelessly identify fleet vehicles as they enter and depart warehouse facilities, for the purposes of inventory tracking and fleet management.

We are working with a major global supply-chain firm that requires connectivity within a large outdoor railyard. Using the public cellular network wasn’t an option, since this organization doesn’t want its sensitive private data traveling across the operator network. By implementing a private mobile network, in this case based on LTE, the firm is planning to blanket the area with reliable wireless connectivity for video applications without breaking the bank.

The rise of private mobile networks are an inevitability for supply-chain firms, but there will likely be many different ways of implementing them, depending on the specific needs of the I.T. department. Some groups will want to have this managed by a third party, like a service provider or channel partner. Others may wish to simply purchase an end-to-end system and install and manage it themselves. Regardless, the opening of the CBRS spectrum in the U.S. —with many variations on the horizon across different countries — has made private mobile networks a real potential asset for supply-chain companies for many years to come.

Mehmet Yavuz is chief technology officer and co-founder of Celona.

Technology Supply Chain Visibility All Warehouse Services RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice Order Fulfillment

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • INTERIOR OF A CHICKEN FARM, WITH WHITE CHICKENS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE

    Worst Avian Flu in U.S. History Is Hitting Poultry

    Food & Beverage
  • TWO FINGERS MANIPULATE WOODEN LETTER BLOCKS TO TURN FROM SHOWING THE WORD RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE

    Five Challenges to Supply Chain Resilience in 2023

    Supply Chain Visibility
  • A PERSON HOLDS UP A TABLET COMPUTER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPER-IMPOSED BY A GRAPHIC SHOWING A COMPLEX WEB OF SUPPLY CHAIN ELEMENTS

    Three Post-Pandemic Actions for Repairing Global Supply Chains

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A MAN IN A SUIT SHAKES HANDS WITH A WOMAN IN A HARD HAT, NEXT TO A STACK OF CONTAINERS

    Three Procurement Technology Evolutions for 2023

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
  • The blank stare of a child's eye who is standing behind what appears to be a wooden frame

    The Alarming Continued Rise of Modern Slavery in Supply Chains: How Procurement Can Help Reverse the Trend

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing