Why We Still Need to Wait for 5G Automation

One of the emerging wireless technologies aiming to support industrial automation applications is 5G, targeting anything from extreme throughput (>10Gbit/s) to extreme low latency (⩽ 1ms) to ultra-high reliability (⩾ 99.999%).

According to GSMA estimates, operators are expected to invest as much as $1 trillion in the implementation of 5G networks from 2018 to 2025. The biggest return on investment for these operators is anticipated to come from a surge in new industrial use cases for enterprises, along with increased overall network efficiency. Actually, with the growing interest in the adoption of wireless technologies in industrial automation and the continuous search for new revenue streams, new players are entering the arena to make their business grow further.

Early Adoption of 5G for Industrial Use in Germany

Germany is one of the countries taking the most advantage of 5G capabilities when it comes to industrial use, where many of the world’s companies rely on industrial automation. One of the companies getting ready to integrate 5G-powered automation is Audi, which is testing robots connected to this robust architecture.

In addition to Audi, other manufacturing companies in Germany utilizing 5G to push automation forward include Bosch, which operates hundreds of factories, and Rexroth, a supplier of automation equipment. Bosch is already testing 5G in multiple factories and intends to continue incorporating this technology in its operations as a founding member of the 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA).

Requirements of Industrial Application

Few attempts have been made to characterize the broad set of requirements of industrial automation. The most common use cases for communication in industrial automation are:

• Interconnection of automation equipment distributed over large distances.
• Interconnection of dedicated real-time automation systems with operator work-places for control and supervision.
• Closed-loop control, ranging from slow to fast control applications with a sampling rate between seconds to milliseconds.
• Interlocking and control applications.
• Monitoring and supervision applications

The Challenges of Implementing 5G Automation

Technical and business challenges before 5G systems can be successfully adopted in industrial automation. In the following, it is mentioned a few of them that have to be overcome.

1. Business Models and Spectrum Availability: A good business model is key for the future use of 5G technology in industrial automation. Especially since 5G is based on using licensed frequency bands, i.e. plant owners need to buy or lease a spectrum. An important question that needs an answer is why plant owners should invest in new 5G technology when most of the considered use cases already have a low-cost solution in the form of current wireless technologies.
2. Latency: The unanimous opinion is that 5G standards should support less than 1 ms end-to-end round trip delay (latency) in order to support future industrial applications. However, there is no clear unified view on which parts are included in this end-to-end delay.
3. Reliability: In addition to promising very low latency, 5G also promises to deliver ultra-high reliability, defined as 99.999% or higher. In the literature on mission-critical MTC(Massive Machine-Type Communication), no difference is made between the concepts of availability and reliability.
4. Determinism: There are other important aspects that seem to be missing from the discussion on how 5G will support industrial automation applications with hard real-time requirements. There is much more to achieving this than just supporting low latency and high reliability. Determinism and predictability, the ability to foresee and know how the system will behave is critical for the support of all the components in the system.

Challenges with Marketing 5G

Andreas Mueller, a leader of 5G-ACIA with Bosch, revealed that 5G for automation in factory settings has only recently begun hitting the market. Because of the relatively new marketing of 5G technology, network operators are likely to have a difficult time trying to convince companies that this technology is worth implementing yet, particularly with so few components currently available to use in factories.

Mueller discussed this challenge as essentially being a “chicken-egg problem.” If there aren’t enough manufacturers out there with 5G connectivity implemented in their factories, there won’t be enough customers to entice automation companies to offer 5G-powered equipment. At the same time, if there’s a lack of 5G-capable products on the market, manufacturing companies will be far less inclined to make their factories 5G-capable.

To help bridge the gap between network operators, automation equipment vendors, and manufacturing companies, the role of third-party integrators will need to come into play. While many businesses still don’t see a difference between LTE and 5G Release 15, experts believe the introduction of 5G Release 16 is likely to attract more customers because of its capabilities extending beyond LTE.

As more companies in Europe begin to consider the benefits of integrating 5G, we can expect more companies in the U.S. to move toward this trend as well, but it may take anywhere from the end of 2020 to 2023 before there’s a real return on investment seen with 5G automation.