On June 12, 2025, the Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) and hytec inter announced the results of a demonstration test in which two construction machines at the Tsukuba Construction DX Test Site in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, were connected to a remote control room in Hokkaido via a local 5G network and Starlink satellite link (Starlink Mini) and operated remotely.
♦ Tsukuba Construction DX Test Site
• Satellite antenna (Starlink Mini): SpaceX's small portable antenna for low-orbit satellite communications (0.9 kg, 30.5 cm x 25.4 cm x 3.8 cm, 1 Ethernet port)
• Local 5G network: Low-cost local 5G server (5G core, CU/DU) from Japan's hytec inter and RU from Taiwan
• HD cameras: Four cameras installed on each construction machine, two bird's-eye view cameras deployed on the ground, for a total of 10 cameras
♦ hytec inter's Hokkaido Test Center
Two cockpits were installed at the Hokkaido test center, located 900 km away from the Tsukuba site. Operators remotely operated earthmoving and transportation operations while viewing live footage from the site transmitted via a local 5G network and satellite network.
By utilizing a local 5G network and a low-orbit satellite network with low latency, and a low-latency encoder, end-to-end latency of 180 ms was achieved ➔ Efficient unmanned construction (remote construction) was confirmed to be possible in areas where communication means are difficult to secure, such as mountainous areas, for civil engineering work.
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