Moscow - Beeline business, a division of VEON’s PJSC VimpelCom subsidiary in Russia that runs the Beeline mobile operator brand, announces it has successfully tested the first industrial Augmented Reality (AR) glasses across 4G/5G networks in Russia. The tests used JSC Inline Group’s IKSAR industrial operations software to show how high-resolution AR video could be provided to field workers to improve safety and efficiency.

The 5G Beeline laboratory has tested the speed of data transfer when making AR video calls and transferring large amounts of data in Russia across both 4G and 5G networks. During testing, the Beeline team also compared the performance parameters of AR glasses and smartphones with 5G support across both 4G and 5G networks.

5G in AR glasses provides field workers with high-resolution video calls from remote experts, allowing employees to be briefed on new tasks without having to physically be in the office. This will also allow field workers to exchange relevant information for the task’s execution in real time.

The new generation of mobile communication combined with industrial AR-glasses and the IKSAR industrial operations software turns the Connected Worker concept into a reality and enhances field workers’ efficiency and safety.

“Digitalisation is changing not only the way businesses operate, but entire industries,” said German Borodov, Key Account Director at PJSC VimpelCom. “We are confident that AR glasses will soon become as familiar and convenient for field workers as tablets or mobile phones are today."

The main advantage of AR glasses with a SIM card is that the employee is always connected and does not depend on the quality and speed of Wi-Fi, external LTE modems or other devices, as all transmitted data is reliably protected.

“We are satisfied with the test results, and I am convinced that our solution will suit many industrial and business needs,” said Igor Gulyansky, Director of Innovation, Inline Group JSC. “With our help, companies will become faster in all respects, and their employees will be able to be more mobile and more confident. Having all the necessary information in the right place and at the right time is the key to making the right decisions and correctly completing tasks.”

As a result of the testing, the AR Glasses were shown to operate successfully across 4G and 5G Beeline networks. The speed of data download in a 5G network is almost 20 times higher than in a 4G network, whilst data upload is comparable to uploading information from a smartphone with 5G support.