Smart Factories: How 5G can help to transform industries

Challenges:

To compete in a changing world, manufacturing operations are becoming digital for a number of reasons, such as revenue growth by improving customer services, increasing demand, beating the competition, decreasing costs by increasing productivity and efficiency, and minimising safety and security risks. Also, digitisation of industries can significantly enhance the efficiency and flexibility of production processes through the use of automation and data exchange technologies, which is only possible by seamless cooperation and communication. The pandemic has further expedited the necessity for businesses to accelerate their digital transformation in manufacturing and supply chain management. In order to discover new information, processes improvements and efficiency across the supply chain, emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D printing, automation, augmented reality and cloud capabilities are crucial; wireless communication is critical to the transformation of industries.  n cloud

Whichever route to digitisation an industry takes, including the automation of devices, augmented reality, the increasingly large number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices for monitoring and control, autonomous machinery (for example vehicles and forklifts etc.), all need characteristics such as extremely-reliable, resilient and instantaneous connectivity for millions of devices. Industries cannot not just entirely rely on unlicensed spectrum such as WiFi, ZigBee etc. for mission-critical operations. Also, the limitations of existing 4G networks in terms of reliability is not sufficient for mission-critical applications (targeted 99.999%), achievable communication latencyis not sufficient for remotely controlled applications (required less than 1 milli-second), support of extremely large number devices which cannot be handled by 4G networks.

Existing Solutions:

5G is a key technology to make this transformation possible, by enabling wireless connectivity in and around the factory, based on a global standard with  large economy of scale. This will allow industries to get a reliable wireless communication which is essential for wireless control applications such as mobile tools, automatic guided vehicles and machines, robots etc. There are several solutions available to support digitisations of industries and a few 5G use cases are discussed below:

Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs): 5G networks will enable ultra-high speed and reliable connectivity and ultra-low latency which will help next-generation AGVs to run control software and process data in the edge cloud. As a result, this will allow immense computing power at a lower cost than onboard processing. According to Ericsson, the global autonomous robot market is expected to reach $220 billion by 2030.

3D bin picking: In most of the factories, robots currently pick parts from a fixed location. 5G enabled robots equipped with advanced vision systems will be able to locate parts, regardless of their location. For example, Pickit has built 5G connected robots to locate parts on the factory floor. This becomes possible as 5G enhances the computing power beyond device capacity; data analysis can occur in the edge cloud and robots require minimal processing power to use computer vision techniques.

Real-time process control: Industries can gain significant value by utilising advanced analytics to optimise and adapt process parameters in real time. 5G enabled connected devices in factories can enable old machines to monitor processes in real time with reliable, and low-latency communication. For example Ericsson, SKF and Chalmers University of Technology created a network of 5G-enabled connected machines that will allow manufacturers to acquire much larger amounts of data in real time. Manufacturers can use this data to facilitate simultaneous product customisation and enhance production output – without sacrificing flexibility, traceability, sustainability, or safety.

Augmented reality (AR): Glasses with AR capability can be used by a workforce within a factory to get guidance through visual instructions. In order to get a smooth and responsive experience, AR glasses must be able to process the data in real time. 5G characteristics such as high data rate and low latency will allow the AR glasses to process the data in real time at the edge cloud. Ericsson’s Tallinn factory used AR techniques such as training, failure diagnostics, maintenance etc. to detect operational inefficiencies which will eventually reduce production downtime and breakdown costs. To date, this project has achieved time savings of up to 50 percent.

Vision quality checks: The use of Artificial intelligence (AI) in modern industries can significantly improve the performance of vision quality systems. The use of 5G with its high reliability and low latency characteristics will allow an almost instantaneous detection of defects. AI algorithms (when compared to traditional complex machine vision models) can be trained and deployed within weeks. In order to monitor and minimise delays to the production line, Haier with the collaboration of Huawei and China Mobile implemented a 5G enabled Mobile Edge Computing Platform. This enables them to dynamically allocate and adjust available resources by performing high volumes of image processing with low latency.

Recommendations: Although, there are increasing numbers of 5G use cases for smart industries, each application is specific to a business/process.

Experts from the SOLVD team at the University of Wolverhampton can help you explore this potential for your business.

For more information on how 5G can transform your business, register to attend our 5G Tech Briefing event on Tuesday 1st June, 10.00- 11.30 am.

https://5gandindustrialinternetofthings.eventbrite.co.uk/

For more information about support available for your business, visit wlv.ac.uk/SOLVD or contact SOLVD@wlv.ac.uk

Blog by Dr Muhammad Naeem Research Fellow in Sensing, Processing and Communication at The University of Wolverhampton.