September 2019

31 www.drivesncontrols.com September 2019 COMMUNICATIONS n In spite of the many potential advantages of 5G, not all functions will be available from the outset and, in many cases, it will not be possible to combine them. The mobile radio standards organisation 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) has defined a series of capabilities which 5G needs to have to satisfy the objectives in the three key scenarios. These include downlinks with peak data rates of 20Gbit/s and a maximum latency of 1ms, as well as specifications with respect to mobility, density, energy efficiency, spectrum efficiency, and network capacity. 3GPP is releasing its 5G specifications in phases. It published standards for 5G components for use in commercial mobile wireless networks at the end of 2018, but has yet to publish requirements for industrial versions. One of the most important factors when building 5G networks is the issue of“public versus private” networks. The first 5G release covers the operation of public networks, while private networks with URLLC will be part of a release which is planned for mid-2020 and will apply to industrial applications. Data protection Today’s mobile networks are public. They are operated by mobile network operators and all transmitted data flows through these networks. This poses a data protection risk for users because the data leaves their jurisdiction. A private network, on the other hand, is similar toWLAN (wireless LAN). The data remains in the network and does not leave the private domain. It is therefore more secure. 5G needs a wider spectrum than previous generations of mobile communications. This spectrum is“owned”by governments. Some of it is royalty- free – for example ISM (industrial, scientific and medical) bands – but for mobile networks, governments auction off frequencies to mobile network operators to build national public networks. These networks are typically focused on eMBB applications providing users with the highest possible data rates and bandwidths. However, industrial 5G allows networks to be“tailored”to an application. For example, URLLC and mMTC could be more beneficial than eMBB for certain industries. In private networks, end-users can determine which parameters are set and operate the network in the optimumway for a particular application. However, sufficient spectrum must be available to industry for these private networks. In Germany, the Bundesnetzagentur (Federal Network Agency) has reserved the 3.7–3.8GHz band for local industrial use. German companies will be able to lease a spectrum for exclusive use in their own facilities for an annual payment, thus ensuring data protection. This was achieved, in part, due to the efforts of the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA), whose members include ABB, Beckhoff, Festo, Harting, HMS, Mitsubishi, Phoenix Contact, Sick, Siemens, Wago andWeidmuller. “It makes sense to give industrial companies direct access to these frequencies,”says Rotmensen.“After all, we are the ones who know the requirements of our plants best of all – and we can therefore optimise the network in line with our specific applications.” Fifth-generation networks undoubtedly offer industry enormous potential. Their unprecedented reliability and low latencies, as well as the comprehensive IIoT connectivity of industrial 5G, will make it much easier to create future-oriented applications. These will include mobile robots in production, as well as autonomous vehicles in the transport and logistics industries, IIoT, augmented reality applications for service and maintenance engineers, and virtual reality. n The evolution of mobile wireless networking technologies Heading towards the self-organising factory Today, most machines in factories are still connected by cables. But this will almost certainly change in the near future, thanks to 5G.The wireless communication technology will initially support data speeds of 1–5 Gbits/s, subsequently increasing to 20 Gbits/s –making it 10–20 times faster than its predecessor, LTE. This is good news for smartphone users, allowing them to watch 4K films wherever they are. But for industrial companies it means much more. It’s a milestone on the road to Industry 4.0, in which comprehensive digital services and the Internet of Things will make smart factories more flexible and productive. 5Gwireless networks are intended to unify everything fromautomated warehouses to robots, air- conditioning systems and industrial controls.They will make it possible to control industrial plants without any cables.The networks will be robust, and either ultrafast or offering a broad bandwidth. Once industrial 5G is established, it will eliminatemany of the obstacles to setting up smart factories. Using 5G, it will be possible to transmit the data generated by one million industrial IoT devices per square kilometre.That could cover complete production lines and their sensors, as well as autonomous mobile robots. For the first time ever, reactions at the bottomof themillisecond scale will be possible, allowing, for example, robot arms to be stopped immediately if a camera identifies a foreign object on a conveyor belt. In addition, the high bandwidth will make it possible to exploit the full potential of augmented reality, marking a newdegree of interaction between humans andmachines. Although wireless networks are already being used in factories, they don’t come close to 5G performance. “Not until now, with the advent of industrial 5G, has it been possible for us to completely connect industrial companies,”says HerbertWegmann, Siemens’head of industrial communications and identification. With 5G, he adds, it will be possible to develop“completely new and flexible factory concepts. Companies will be able to adapt their production areas dynamically to current circumstances, without having to makemajor changes to their infrastructure. Once we start to realise these possibilities, we will not be far from reaching the vision of the self- organising factory.”