2017-02-23

Ericsson and China Mobile have jointly developed a 5G-enabled Smart Factory prototype using key 5G Core Network technology - Network Slicing. The prototype will be on display at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. The demo will simulate the assembly line in the Smart Factory environment, enabled by the 5G connected industry standard PLC connections.

Triggered by Made-in-China 2025 and Industry 4.0, the manufacturing sector has changed profoundly in China during recent years. Industries have engaged in a steady re-industrialization relying on ICT enhancements.

At the root of industrial revolution is the implementation of a reliable and flexible communication layer, capable of dealing with increasingly higher capacity allocations of on-demand manufacturing and adjustments.

5G technologies combined with the key ICT technologies such as Cloud, SDN and Network Slicing, in addition to the most advanced 5G New Radio (NR) technology, will be key enablers for the Smart Factory of the future.

Addressing the key challenges from Smart Factory, the 5G network, via Network Slicing, provides comprehensive and cost-efficient solutions for various manufacturing scenarios, real-time performance, low-energy and simple deployments, which in turn facilitate the baseline for the future of smart factories.

In addition, the following key features of the 5G network have been built into the prototype to prove the key functionalities tailored for Smart Factory:

• Network Slicing – allocate the network resources just on demand
• Latency commitment – locally break-out the traffic to meet the latency requirements
• Distributed Cloud – flexible ways to deploy the industry applications and key network functionality enabled by NFV technology on local data centers or central data centers.

Network Architecture Team, China Mobile, says: “This joint demonstration showcases how 5G technology is useful in broad industry areas, especially in the smart factory which is the key part of the Made-in-China 2025. As the key enabling technology, the 5G network will facilitate the next wave of industrialization around the world.”