5G trials to spice up hotpot experience, improve last-mile connectivity
Singapore telco M1 is planning a 5G trial at the latest outlet of Haidilao, a well-known hotpot restaurant in the city-state, in a bid to demonstrate the use of 5G networks in the food and beverage (F&B) sector.
The two companies said they will be equipping the new Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant at Marina Square with a kitchen management system, an automatic soup base machine, as well as food delivery robots that will serve diners.
In addition, they are setting up a new 5G experience corner to showcase M1’s 5G expertise and capabilities.
Diners, for instance, will be able to immerse themselves in instructional, educational and interactive virtual and augmented reality gaming at the experience corner, while waiting in line for the next available seat.
Willis Sim, M1’s chief corporate sales and solutions office, said the telco has been building 5G capabilities to deliver 5G applications across a range of industries and that the Haidilao testbed is its first one in the F&B segment.
Frank Li, branch manager of Haidilao Marina Square, said: “Customer experience has always been a top priority for us at Haidilao, and we are very excited to explore this new experience with M1 for our new store. 5G is enabling better experiences across industries, and we are happy to bring the trial of this technology to our restaurant in Singapore”.
Besides the F&B segment, M1 is also setting its sights on the use of 5G in last-mile connectivity.
Just this week, it announced a partnership with Nanyang Technological University, to integrate 5G technology into cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) research testbeds and trials, as part of Singapore’s ongoing transition into a global innovation hub for research in connected mobility.
C-V2X communications is used to enhance safety by relaying real-time traffic navigation and hazard information to users in advance. It can send traffic warning notifications at road junctions, helping to optimise road usage by reducing travelling time and minimising the risk of accidents.
M1 will provide the infrastructure for a 5G connected mobility testbed and trial by deploying three 5G base stations for C-V2X communications at the NTU smart campus. The increased capacity and capabilities of the network will deliver ultra-fast and reliable low-latency communications over a wider coverage area.
The network’s radio efficiency is further improved by massive MIMO technology that will enable hundreds of sensors to be installed in vehicles and traffic lights. This allows industry partners to design and deploy 5G mobility solutions for a range of safety-related use cases such as collision avoidance and real time traffic routing.
In June 2018, M1 and Huawei conducted Singapore’s first 5G live trial where virtual reality content was transmitted at the former’s headquarters in Jurong.
The transmission was carried out using Huawei’s 5G equipment that operates in the 28GHz millimetre wave band and supports a theoretical peak download throughput exceeding 20Gbps.