What 5G Will Bring To The Industry?

I realized that I could not read an “Industry & 5G” article in a language that everyone can understand until today and I tried to summarize the subject in the most understandable way in this article.

BRAIN AND INDUSTRY

Our brain is made up of hundreds of billions of cells called “neurons” and “glia”. Each cell sends electrical signals to other cells at a rate of up to 100 times a second. Most of what we do, think, and feel is beyond the control of our consciousness.

In the industry, we have come a long way in the last few years, although we have not yet reached those speeds. Do we have reached the level we call “auto control”? I think we are very close …

There are approximately 11 million industrial production facilities in the world. What is it exactly that number in Turkey is unknown, it is thought to be around 50 thousand, according to data received from different sources. Wired network infrastructure and Wifi are used for production systems in these facilities. Since the facilities are equipped with heavy metals, serious difficulties are inevitable in wireless transmission.

There are 4 needs for transition to auto control systems;

Wireless High Speed ​​Data Transfer

High capacity data transfer does not meet the need with existing WiFi technology. For example, it is not possible to transfer the high resolution image taken with an HD camera instantly over wireless networks.

Lower Latency and Response Time

Due to the delay times below the standards, there have been reservations about activating the auto control systems.

Coverage Sensitivity

In metal-weighted industrial production facilities, sufficient coverage area cannot be created with wireless systems. Once a facility has fallen into the “WiFi” network, it has to constantly add new Access Points (AP) to improve coverage.

Cable… Cable… Cable…

No matter which facility you examine, wired infrastructure systems pose serious problems. Apart from damage or rupture of the cables, it is one of the most problematic issues when there is an additional demand or when a new line is to be installed. In order to solve this problem, I have observed that although it varies according to the size of the factories, it has been tried to be covered with at least 45, at most 250 Wifi Access Points.

5G / PLTE WITH 5 EXAMPLES FOR INDUSTRY

PLTE (Private Long Term Evolution), the generic name of 4.5G and 5G used today for Enterprise.

I think it is more appropriate to explain what 5G will bring to the industry with 5 examples. Of course it is possible to increase the examples …

The question that will come to mind for every example described here; The existence of end devices that can work integrated with 5G… Let me give the answer right from the beginning; Except for phones, there are more than 2500 types of 5G (cameras, radios, routers, IoT devices) that can be integrated with 5G and this number is increasing day by day.

1. Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous vehicles are indispensable for industrial facilities. Natural gas or diesel forklifts or similar vehicles are still used in many facilities, and these vehicles not only increase the labor force needed but also reduce the quality of the air in the factory environment.

Nowadays, many factories and production facilities have started to switch to autonomous vehicles called AGV (Autonomous Guided Vehicle). In a factory operating three shifts, instead of forklifts and similar vehicles with gas emission, which are used by 3 different operators, autonomous vehicles with high environmental perception are preferred, which are powered by electricity and can be defined with maps and tasks on them.

Let’s say you are working on the production line and your material is running low. You inform the system automatically or manually, AGVs bring the material to you with the help of the map and task description and the sensors on it.

It seems that you can do this with WiFi 6, but the management difficulty, difficulty of installation (one cable must be installed for each AP) and most importantly, the slow transition between APs cause AGVs to not move at the desired speeds. The slower the AGVs progress, the greater the need for AGVs.

If you have an AGV that goes at 30 meters per minute and you need 40 AGVs, how many of them do you need to buy an AGV traveling at 40 meters per minute? While doing this simple math, it is useful to keep in mind that an AGV is approximately 40,000 Euros.

And one more useful information; With this difference, you can install a very comfortable 5G / PLTE infrastructure in your factory!

2. Push To Talk / Video Systems

Currently, you are using a push to talk system or handheld terminals for voice and data transfer in your factory. In existing infrastructures, you use it with TETRA, DMR or other digital radio systems or analog. And you also carry the data transferred by hand terminals used for KPI & business process tracking via 3G or WiFi.

For the industry, 5G also brings an innovation to the familiar push to talk and handheld terminal concept.

For the industry, 5G also brings an innovation to the familiar push to talk and handheld terminal concept. Now that you can transmit higher data with lower delays, the hand terminal and radios merge. You can take pictures with the radio, read barcodes, and even use the needs and systems that are critical in terms of health and work safety, thanks to the “mandown” feature.

Let’s say you have a mining business and you need one reliable system to ensure the health and safety of your employees. 5G; It provides you with a fully reliable infrastructure with its capacity, coverage and low latency features. For example, the system you integrate with a “smart helmet” can monitor all vital functions of your employee and take precautions. Just a suggestion!

3. Video and Scene Analysis

Imagine an employee accidentally entered the designated safe area on the production line in your factory. The infrastructure of Video Scene Analytics applications used to detect this may be fiber or Ethernet. It’s okay when there is fiber, but what if you can’t run cables in this area?

Or when it is necessary to keep the distance between employees within a certain range due to the “Social Distance” that has become a hot topic lately?

Or if you want to learn about an error or deficiency that may occur in production during production, stop the process as soon as possible and reduce the re-work process?

Or if you want to read barcodes and locate them with the help of cameras during and after production?

You may be planning to provide security with face recognition systems, to monitor the temperature (and fire of employees) with thermal cameras, to see an unusual situation instantly with anomaly detection systems, but you can also see the difficulty of installing wired systems and operating. Considering that there are many authorities who need to be convinced that you will discuss the efficiency and insecurity of WiFi systems, you may be waiting for 5G to come to operate the systems I mentioned above.

4. Asset Tracking System (Indoor Outdoor Positioning)

I realized the importance of this issue when I heard that a very large “X” factory, which produces about 500 “X” per day, lost about 35 of the “X” it produced in the warehouse / parking area. Assuming that each “X” is around 15,000 Euros, it will be understood what I mean. Even just finding the missing “X” s will incur the infrastructure investment cost of 5G.

Demands such as tracking the products in the warehouse environment after they are produced in the factory environment, planning their shipment, monitoring the employees with high-precision tracking devices stand out as the general needs of the asset tracking system, but it is possible to increase the number of these needs …

It seems that these solutions, which are currently provided with different infrastructures (Bluetooth, Wifi, LoRa), will be replaced by 5G.

A Souvenir: A car manufacturer and its insurance company, who discovered that vehicles stolen in one of our provinces can be tracked with license plate recognition system, donated the system to the security forces. When we asked why they did this, they said that this investment would easily be profitable with a single tool to be found. And so it happened …

5. Enhanced Remote Intervention and Digital Twin (Enhanced Maintenance / Digital Twin)

There is a malfunction in your factory that needs to be fixed and the master who will repair it is in a different location. Or you want to track if a new employee made a critical mistake during the task, but not slow down the work. Perhaps you want to accelerate and expand the scope of orientation training for new employees. The only thing you will need for these is now a VR glasses and 5G infrastructure.

We can also give examples from the health sector; Do you think a surgeon who can perform a surgery 300 km away can save a life?

Now manufacturers can set up the digital twin of their factories and identify ways to speed up operations or change failure response rates and methods.

Today, almost 85% of all work that can be done with 5G can be done with 4.5G. 5G for installation in Turkey has not yet started. Operators continue to test on the frequencies allocated to them, but a specific frequency for the Enterprise is not on the agenda yet. Countries like Germany and France have started to allocate this frequency. In other words, a manufacturer can set up and operate the system by obtaining the necessary permissions and paying the fee to set up his own 5G infrastructure (operator dependent or independent) in the factory environment.

We will start talking about 5G in Turkey Enterprise Market within 2 years.

But you don’t have to wait for 5G to switch your facility to the systems I have listed above. You can start with 4.5G and make a smooth transition to 5G in the future by changing certain components on the same infrastructure.

But you don’t have to wait for 5G to switch your facility to the systems I have listed above. You can start with 4.5G and make a smooth transition to 5G in the future by changing certain components on the same infrastructure.

Two things you need to do for this; to determine your real needs (pain points) and decide with whom to do it.

Look, if you pay attention, I do not say the budget, because when you apply at least one of the examples I mentioned above, you will already get the return of your investment.

Or use your WiFi budget! Why settle for WiFi when you can get better?

If you have detailed questions, you can contact me and I will be happy to answer them.

May the sale be with you!