September 2019

n COMMUNICATIONS 5G is set to change the face of industry I magine a factory in 2025. Goods, spare parts, and finished products are all transported between delivery bays, production facilities, and warehouses by a fleet of autonomous vehicles, coordinated precisely with the manufacturing schedule. Countless shopfloor devices are networked with each other and can transfer data from the entire production line in a matter of milliseconds. And field engineers carry out remote maintenance and service tasks easily and effectively using augmented reality, without having to leave the site. All this will be possible due to imminent arrival of 5G communications. According to the Mobile Economy 2019 Report published by GSMA – the mobile network operators’association – 15% of the world’s mobile communications will be running on 5G as soon as 2025. $160bn is already being invested annually in building 5G networks. And, according to the GSMA forecast, 5G will contribute $2.2 trillion to the global economy in the coming 15 years, driven primarily by manufacturing and by utilities. “The opportunities for industry are immense,”says Sander Rotmensen, head of product management for industrial wireless communications at Siemens.“We are talking about a wireless network that can combine many things thanks to its bandwidth: from automated racking systems and production robots, to air-conditioning systems and control panels. An all- encompassing network which allows an industrial plant to be controlled wirelessly – reliable, super-quick, or equipped with very high bandwidth.” Looking back at the development of mobile networks over the past 40 years shows that they have always added value both for individual users and for industry. Even the first commercial mobile network – which, in retrospect, we can call the first- generation (1G) – allowed us to talk to each other while on the move. 2G networks heralded the arrival of text messages, while 3G put the Internet into people’s hands, and 4G did the same for music and video streaming. However, for industry, 1G applications might as well not have existed due to their high costs, restriction to analogue voice transmission, and limited network coverage. The next generation, 2G, brought text messages and, later, even simple data transmission for industrial telecontrol applications. 3G supported long-distance actions and remote access, for example, in teleservicing operations where users could interact with remotely installed applications. 4G finally provided high-performance mobile remote access – but this was not the end. 5G communications will bring further improvements, focusing on wider bandwidths, enhanced reliability, lower latency, and the ability to connect more devices. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is responsible for the global standardisation of mobile networks, including 5G. It established a vision for 5G in an early phase of developing the standard which envisages three key scenarios, or use cases. Eight 5G characteristics have been defined to meet the requirements of the three scenarios (see table). The main aim of the first scenario, EnhancedMobile Broadband (eMBB) , is to achieve data-driven applications which need high data rates with large- scale network coverage. It could be used for augmented and virtual reality applications that support assembly line workers and field engineers wearing smart glasses. The second scenario, Ultra- Reliable Low-Latency Communication (URLLC) , could satisfy demands for high reliability and low latency in challenging industrial uses. Typical applications could include mobile robots, autonomous logistics, AGVs and safety. The third scenario, massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC) , focuses on connecting many devices in a small area. In practice, this will usually mean applications for the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), which are characterised by high device densities. The devices will send or receive data at longer intervals so that they use the narrowest possible bandwidth. It could also be used in the process sector, where many sensors are installed to monitor every step of a process The imminent arrival of the 5G wireless technology could change the way that we communicate in factories. This article, based on information supplied by Siemens, argues that 5G will eliminate many of the obstacles currently holding up the move to smart factories. 5G standards envisage three key ways of using the technology September 2019 www.drivesncontrols.com 30 5G characteristics for the three key scenarios Characteristic Description Requirement Scenario Peak data rate Maximum data rate 20 Gbit/s (downlink) 10 Gbit/s (uplink) eMBB (Actual) data rate experienced by the user Achievable data rate over the area of coverage 1 Gbit/s eMBB Latency Max. delay over the mobile network 1ms URLLC Mobility Max. speed for handoff and quality of service 500 km/h eMBB/URLLC Density Total number of devices per unit area 106 /km 2 mMTC Energy efficiency Sent/received data per unit of energy consumed (device or network) As for 4G eMBB Spectrum efficiency Throughput per unit wireless bandwidth and per network cell 3 to 4 × 4G eMBB Area traffic capacity Total traffic across area of coverage 1,000 (Mbit/s)/m 2 eMBB