AgriFood Connect - a joint initiative of the FKG Group, the University of Queensland, and Telstra - is the first organisation worldwide to deploy a Ericsson ‘private 5G’ wireless platform.

The not-for-profit, which is located within the technology and innovation hub of the  AATLIS precinct in Toowoomba, has a focus on accelerating the adoption of technology and innovation across agriculture and manufacturing industries.

The organisation is using the private 5G platform to deploy “industrial IoT capabilities over 5G standalone that can support a variety of business requirements such as asset condition monitoring and the collection of data from machinery,” Telstra and Ericsson said in a statement.

“These sorts of capabilities will enable features such as predictive maintenance alerts that will drive cost savings against unplanned downtime and repairs,” the two companies said.

Ericsson’s A/NZ head Emilio Romeo lauded the “world-first deployment in partnership with Telstra” as “an important step towards automation and control through intelligent 5G connectivity.”

AgriFood Connect’s acting CEO Thomas Hall said the “dedicated 5G network will help demonstrate the latest advancement in technology innovations” to the agriculture sector.