As an example of how 5G cellular wireless communications technology will be applied to the battlefield, Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works and Verizon recently demonstrated streaming video for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).
Part of an ongoing strategic collaboration between the two companies, the wireless video-streaming exercise (see image above) was run on edge-computing devices. It showed how latency could be minimized for 3D visualization and for handling augmented-reality (AR), extended-reality (ER), and virtual-reality (VR) imaging at high speeds on devices like head-mounted displays and tablet computers.
According to Marc O'Brien, senior manager of Virtual Prototyping at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, “Streaming is the future, and through our strategic collaboration with Verizon, together we are advancing crucial 21st-century security technologies that drive speed, efficiency, quality, and reliability where our customers need it most.”
The advanced communications strategies are part of Lockheed Martin’s “Maintainer as a Node” concept in which a maintainer receives critical information on where, when, and how it's needed with minimal latency. The 5G infrastructure links several different technologies, including satellite communications (satcom), terrestrial sub-6-GHz communications, and mmWave frequency channels at and above 24.25 GHz.