Deutsche Telekom VP of network convergence Ahmed Hafez highlighted a combination of 5G and Wi-Fi 6/6E networks would play a vital role in supporting the operator’s industrial partners in future.

Hafez made the comments to accompany the publication of a white paper from the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) which flagged how Wi-Fi 6/6E technology can support emerging industrial IoT (IIoT) applications including autonomous robots and more.

In the Wi-Fi 6/6E for Industrial IoT: Enabling Wi-Fi Determinism in an IoT World report, the WBA notes as manufacturers increasingly use sensors to monitor equipment, wiring becomes prohibitive.

“Industry is moving towards the inclusion of wireless technologies to lessen the cost of obtaining more information about their processes,” the organisation wrote in the report.

WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues stated Wi-Fi has already been a “key enabler” of the global IIoT market, which he said is “on track to have a CAGR of about 23 per cent between 2017 and 2023”.

The report was produced by the WBA’s Wi-Fi 6/6E for IIoT working group, led by Cisco, Deutsche Telekom and Intel.

It provides an overview of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E capabilities seen as “ideal for sensors and other IIoT applications”.

Eric McLaughlin, VP client computing group and GM of wireless solutions group at Intel, added the IIoT market “is experiencing a major transformation, and Wi-Fi is an essential ingredient enabling this transition”.

He cited how applications including autonomous mobile robots and remote human management interface industrial devices “require the mobility, functional safety, high reliability, low latency, robust security and determinism that Wi-Fi 6/6E can deliver, particularly when combined with time sensitive networking solutions”.