Following the Mobile World Congress event in London, Vodafone and Ericsson have joined forces to "demonstrate a new 5G proof of concept following joint commitment to 5G innovation".

The claimed "world-first" sees a "5G Smart Network Edge prototype built by connecting the Vodafone 5G lab, Düsseldorf with the Ericsson Eurolab, Aachen, Germany, including a 5G-ready core and demonstrated the benefits of network slicing and distributed cloud technology using the example of a machine vision application".

The "machine vision application" was used to "demonstrate benefits of 5G Smart Network Edge shown live during the Ericsson Innovation Days in Aachen".

Both companies report that "machine vision" is increasingly used for "quality assurance within manufacturing and production processes and to measure or recognise objects".

We are told that in a typical setup, "pictures provided by high-speed cameras are processed, analysed and trigger further actions such as sorting out defective parts".

There was a "live demo" during the "Innovation Days at Ericsson's R&D Centre in Aachen", where both companies showed how "the 5G Smart Network Edge enables much greater efficiency for industry:

• due to reduced network latencies the recognition rate of a cloud-based face detection application was increased; and
• significantly less video traffic had to be sent over the wide area network and sensitive data was kept locally and was therefore better protected against unauthorised access".

Sonja Graf, head of Vodafone Innovation Park, Vodafone Germany, said: "Within only three months we created a 5G Smart Network Edge prototype by connecting our labs. The face recognition use case is just one example demonstrating how 5G will meet the diverse needs of a wide range of industries."

Valter D'Avino, head of Ericsson Western and Central Europe, said: "We are delighted that the Ericsson and Vodafone labs have come together to innovate and this first use case shows an excellent example of how 5G can enable industries to become more efficient as well as more secure and cost-effective."