the Industrial Internet

For industrial production environments, having a high-speed network may not be the primary goal, but a network that is efficient and reliable is indispensable. For a long time, wired networks have been the preferred choice in industrial settings, with their high speed, stability, and low latency supporting the normal operation of the entire industry.

However, under the network conditions of Industry 4.0, the approach of relying solely on wired networks has also begun to show some drawbacks. Firstly, the long cables that can still be seen in traditional factories, stretching for several kilometers, pose considerable difficulties for the entire factory’s wiring. Moreover, in some factory environments where close proximity is not suitable, the deployment and maintenance of wired networks present certain safety challenges. As a result, the industry has started to widely consider wireless solutions.

Challenges in Deploying Industrial Wireless Networks

However, achieving a fully wireless factory is, at least for now, not realistic. With the trend of digital transformation, many devices have indeed become wireless, such as AGV vehicles, wireless PLCs, asset tracking tags, and handheld mobile terminals, but most production equipment still requires wired connections, and these devices have proven to be reliable and irreplaceable.

industrial 5g  router

AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 Series Products / Huawei

Therefore, a full wireless transformation of traditional factories is essentially equivalent to rebuilding. If the goal is set from the beginning of the factory’s construction, it also requires solution providers to tailor-make a wireless network foundation, such as Huawei’s fully wireless factory in Songshan Lake, Southern China, transformed with its own Wi-Fi 6 CPE.

Furthermore, although wireless networks are named “wireless,” they still exist in an environment with many other wireless networks. Therefore, meeting QoS requirements in terms of jitter, latency, and packet loss is still challenging. Although deploying industrial wireless networks implies cost savings, the deployment cost of wireless networks on a large scale is still not low.

In conclusion, when we talk about wireless networks in industrial scenarios, it is more about a supplementary and redundant plan, or even a plan that is still being perfected, rather than a plan that must replace. It is undeniable that any connection technology has gone through this process, even the 5G network, which has taken the lead in the mobile communication field, also wants to get a share of the industrial network.

Can 5G be a piece of the puzzle to complete the industrial wireless network?

industrial 5g router

The new features introduced by 5G have paved the way for its entry into industrial control, such as URLLC providing ultra-reliable low-latency communication. The lack of this feature is precisely the reason why industrial networks have initially denied or been skeptical of wireless networks. In addition, mMTC massive machine-type communication mainly targets various sensors in industrial scenarios. By equipping devices with corresponding wireless sensors, remote monitoring, upgrades, and maintenance can be achieved.

With these features, 5G has thrown out an irresistible connection plan for industrial applications, especially for industrial communications that require high reliability and low latency. URLLC is a direct hit on the pain point. After all, the industrial environment is more sensitive to latency than our daily work and living environment, otherwise, it is impossible to ensure the normal and efficient operation of factory processes. Relevant manufacturers are also taking action, whether it is chip manufacturers or module manufacturers.

industrial 5g lte router

For example, last year, ZTE released a series of 5G products for industrial scenarios, such as the ZM9200 5G module based on Qualcomm’s SDX55 chip, the ZM9010 based on Unisoc’s V510 chip, 5G power CPE, and outdoor routers. These products fully utilize the characteristics of 5G’s high-precision timing and low latency and provide support for common industrial interfaces.

In addition to access, 5G networks have also brought a variety of use cases for industrial scenarios, such as network function virtualization, network slicing, and multi-access edge computing. Network function virtualization (NFV) is a product that is born with software-defined networking (SDN) and can be said to be one of the keys to optimizing 5G core network resources. In industrial scenarios, NFV achieves load balancing and flexible adjustment while eliminating physical nodes in traditional architectures, achieving true automated operation and maintenance. To achieve this, either operators need to promote it, with stricter standards for cellular network slicing in industrial scenarios, or based on existing infrastructure, or build a private network for an industrial park. In any case, if 5G networks want to fill the “pit” of industrial networks, they also have a lot of “pits” to fill themselves.