Industrial manufacturing major Siemens on Thursday announced the launch of private industrial 5G router, a critical component for the manufacturing industry in its digital transformation journey. If there is no available 5G network, the device switches automatically to 4G or 3G networks.

The applications on private industrial 5G offer long-term benefits to a wide range of customer segments such as intra-logistics, autonomous machines, industrial edge, remote diagnostics, augmented reality, assisted work, wireless backhaul, edge computing and mobile equipment.

While in most consumer applications the focus is mainly on high data rates, industrial networks tend to focus more on low latency and high availability. "This is where private 5G networks step in as they can be configured to suit the requirements of the manufacturing industry. Private 5G networks also offer data security," said Suprakash Chaudhuri, Head -- Digital Industries, Siemens Limited.

Siemens' industrial 5G routers -- Scalance MUM856-1 and MUM853-1 will enable enhanced Mobile broadband transmission, massive machine type communication and ultra-reliable low latencies. The routers connect local industrial applications to public 5G, 4G (LTE) and 3G (UMTS) mobile wireless networks. 

These can be used to remotely monitor and service plants, machines, control elements, and other industrial devices via a public 5G network -- flexibly and with high data rates.

'Scalance MUM856-1' offers high bandwidths of up to 1000 Mbps for the downlink and up to 500 Mbps for the uplink -- providing high data rates for data-intensive applications such as the remote implementation of firmware updates. 

The devices can also be implemented in modern communication networks. Various security functions are included in order to monitor data traffic and protect against unauthorised access, said the company.