5G in Industry & Logistics - Insights from Zebra Technologies
Facts
Network expansion is difficult to compare globally. In densely populated regions, penetration is higher, but transmission speeds are often lower.
Zebra recently conducted a new global Warehousing Vision Study to examine the trends and sentiments influencing operational decisions and investment in logistics. The results provide encouraging news: Logistics professionals are making significant investments to better meet the needs of customers and employees, make it easier to fill open positions, and gain or extend an edge over competitors.
Releases
High data transmission rates, low latency and secure data encryption - these are three prominent features of the 5G network. Since Release 16 (R16) in 2019, the ongoing revision stages or releases map the increasing requirements of enterprises within the scope of technological possibilities. R16 made it possible to build private networks; campus networks and standalone 5G plant networks are based on it. Network slicing, in which parts of a network can be changed autonomously, and exact location determination down to a few tens of centimeters are further functions of R16. Work has been underway on R17 since 2020. Optimized battery use, access via satellite and faster V2X data transmission are among the features that will become possible.
Work on R18 will begin in September 2022; it is on schedule to be completed in December 2023. Meanwhile, the implementation of R16 and R17 is not proceeding according to plan. Since the delivery of R16-capable chipsets is delayed, R16 is not yet fully implemented. Market observers do not expect the specifications from R17 to be implemented before the first quarter of 2023.
Read the details of the study here: Zebra Technologies - Warehouse Agility - Vision Study
Practice
In practice, the 5G network has been adopted in parts. The existing 4G telecommunications infrastructure already enables terminal devices to access the 5G core network. So far, however, cell towers including antennas, radio technology and connectivity have not yet been completely overhauled. Since the transmission range for 5G is shorter, many more cell towers and antennas are needed. The full functional scope of the 5G network will not be achieved until both the access network and the core network support the functions of 5G. This is then referred to as "5G SA (stand-alone)." The penetration of 5G-capable mobile devices, on the other hand, is well underway. China is leading with 84% of 5G-enabled smartphones; in North America the figure is 73% and in Europe 76%.
5G in Europe and Worldwide
Individual metropolitan regions already have functioning 5G networks. China has the most of them, with a total of 356 cities or regions in 2022. There are 296 in the USA and 98 in the Philippines. It is interesting to note that these figures are five or six times higher than in 2020. Network expansion is therefore taking place rapidly. In Europe, Switzerland leads with 84 5G networks. In Germany, 5G applications are concentrated on private campus networks and plant facilities. There are 58 functioning 5G networks here. This puts Germany in 8th place in an international comparison of 5G network expansion. Only a fraction of the existing 5G networks are "stand alone"; most saddle up to existing 4G networks. With stand-alone 5G networks, the promise of 5G will be fully realized and will become more than an expanded mobile network.
An upward trend in the number of 5G mobile connections. (Source: Statista & Ericsson)
Application Scenarios
The fields of application for 5G are diverse. The 5G standard is already enabling innovating processes in the areas listed here.
AI
5G and artificial intelligence (AI) are mutually dependent. The significantly larger volumes of data in the 5G network are analyz ed with the help of algorithms, and the AIs in turn require a fast data transmission rate for their work. This dream team is used, for example, in assembly and for bandwidth-intensive applications such as machine vision.
Vision
Machine vision is a computationally intensive task that requires dedicated resources and complex application support to extract meaningful data from still or moving image analysis. The latency-free transfer of large amounts of data makes AI-assisted image analysis possible.
Robotics
Industrial robots operate completely wirelessly and sometimes in safety-sensitive areas. In such cases, the robot is equipped with comprehensive sensor technology for safety. As soon as a human being is within close range of the robot, the system is stopped for safety reasons. With 5G, the end-to-end delay in this process is approximately one millisecond.
Position Determination
For time-critical applications, reliable real-time positioning is important. With R17, for example, it is possible to improve 5G positioning accuracy to between 20 and 30 cm in factory automation. Parcel drones would then be a possibility in the field; distribution and logistics centers with robots could increase their throughput.
Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)
AMRs are largely flat vehicles of various sizes that move independently. They offer the advantage of being able to adapt flexibly to the environment. There are only minor implementation requirements. They are very useful in goods replenishment on production lines. AMRs can go wherever assistance is needed.
Autonomous Driving
5G enables the necessary communication between vehicles in autonomous driving. This is used in particular for driverless industrial trucks (AGVs). Automobile manufacturers use 5G on short test routes within the plant for autonomous test drives with prototypes in order to obtain performance data in real time from the moving vehicle.