5G technology, due to its structure and despite its name, will not be a simple evolution of 4G but a decisive "game changer" with 3 important impacts on factory architecture and industrial processes.
Production is under constant pressure in terms of improving productivity, efficiency, safety and sustainability. If the ultimate goal of the future factory is to reach the maximum level of flexibility, to enable customized production up to a single batch with costs equal to mass production, this must be supported by a robust lean approach , by the conscious use of the generated data and an enabling technological infrastructure.
In this sense, 5G technology will constitute a substantial paradigm shift in communication, capable of responding to the needs of the digital factory .
Regional operators or regulators will be able to allocate a portion of the licensed spectrum in specific geographic areas, while the non-licensed spectrum can be controlled by the owner in a confined space and support IIoT requests. Without interference from other networks, for example, a controlled private environment can ensure latency for real-time applications or the use of a wide range of frequency bands can add greater reliability as well as optimize scalability and costs.
Field experiences have shown that through 5G it is possible to achieve performances very close to the millisecond.
Being able to manage any process corrections in real time, perhaps by relying on a digital twin, allows for example to reduce rework times, intervening on possible deviations.
Another case could be the direct monitoring, with sensor connected wirelessly to the 5G network, of milling vibrations.
In such a low latency context, it is possible to think of flexible layouts that can be changed in a sustainable way according to production lots, thanks to production lines and machines interconnected on 5G networks without the need for wiring.
All supported also by the new TSN (Time Sensitive Network) industry standard which will introduce, on an Ethernet basis, deterministic communication, which will allow you to overcome the puzzle of proprietary or open fieldbus solutions, allowing an important step towards the standardization of architectures. fundamental hardware and software in process integration.
Alternative architectures (Edge Computing Architecture) are therefore necessary where the data are processed close to the application that generates them both in terms of volume and criticality with respect to time.
For example, in an autonomous driving scenario, braking must be processed immediately upon identification of the risk of impact. Sending the signal for cloud processing would be too slow to manage the risk.
The growing volume of data that will be transmitted and the density of IoT components make 4G unsuitable with 2000 devices / sq km, where 5G can support up to 100,000 active devices in the same unit of space.
In general, the real-time optimization of resources and flows is the ultimate goal. The intrinsic versatility of the 5G network facilitates the introduction of autonomous vehicles such as the use of mobile terminals for operators for the real-time use of applications based on artificial intelligence, another game changer that we will be able to write about.
Production is under constant pressure in terms of improving productivity, efficiency, safety and sustainability. If the ultimate goal of the future factory is to reach the maximum level of flexibility, to enable customized production up to a single batch with costs equal to mass production, this must be supported by a robust lean approach , by the conscious use of the generated data and an enabling technological infrastructure.
In this sense, 5G technology will constitute a substantial paradigm shift in communication, capable of responding to the needs of the digital factory .
1. Custom connectivity: Private Network
The licensed and non-licensed 5G frequency spectrum will offer companies the opportunity to create private networks optimized for specific use cases and managed independently.Regional operators or regulators will be able to allocate a portion of the licensed spectrum in specific geographic areas, while the non-licensed spectrum can be controlled by the owner in a confined space and support IIoT requests. Without interference from other networks, for example, a controlled private environment can ensure latency for real-time applications or the use of a wide range of frequency bands can add greater reliability as well as optimize scalability and costs.
2. 5G m maximizes factory flexibility: low latency and wireless connectivity
For a machine tool to remove, closing the control ring in real time means staying under 1 millisecond.Field experiences have shown that through 5G it is possible to achieve performances very close to the millisecond.
Being able to manage any process corrections in real time, perhaps by relying on a digital twin, allows for example to reduce rework times, intervening on possible deviations.
Another case could be the direct monitoring, with sensor connected wirelessly to the 5G network, of milling vibrations.
In such a low latency context, it is possible to think of flexible layouts that can be changed in a sustainable way according to production lots, thanks to production lines and machines interconnected on 5G networks without the need for wiring.
All supported also by the new TSN (Time Sensitive Network) industry standard which will introduce, on an Ethernet basis, deterministic communication, which will allow you to overcome the puzzle of proprietary or open fieldbus solutions, allowing an important step towards the standardization of architectures. fundamental hardware and software in process integration.
3. Distributed Intelligence: Edge Computing and Machine to Machine communication
Cloud-based solutions are often not always compatible even for Industrial IoT applications, due to the type and availability of data.Alternative architectures (Edge Computing Architecture) are therefore necessary where the data are processed close to the application that generates them both in terms of volume and criticality with respect to time.
For example, in an autonomous driving scenario, braking must be processed immediately upon identification of the risk of impact. Sending the signal for cloud processing would be too slow to manage the risk.
The growing volume of data that will be transmitted and the density of IoT components make 4G unsuitable with 2000 devices / sq km, where 5G can support up to 100,000 active devices in the same unit of space.
What the factory of the future will be like
In conclusion, it is clear that 5G technology is one of the main technologies enabling the architecture of the Factory of the future where intelligence will be distributed and data will be used to enable scenarios, for example, of predictive maintenance or self-configuration of machines and line lay-out.In general, the real-time optimization of resources and flows is the ultimate goal. The intrinsic versatility of the 5G network facilitates the introduction of autonomous vehicles such as the use of mobile terminals for operators for the real-time use of applications based on artificial intelligence, another game changer that we will be able to write about.
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