The Industrial IoT (IIoT) setup relies on many smart devices but unless the industrial environment is supported by robust connectivity, all these smart technological interventions are rendered useless. After WiFi and LPWAN, 5G LAN is emerging as the best candidate in ensuring seamless connectivity for industrial environments. Let’s have a look at specific use cases.
Use Case: Connectivity for Industrial Environments
Problem Statement
Industrial environments have traditionally relied heavily on wired connectivity protocols, which is economically unfeasible for a large area. Wi-Fi is not good enough for mobility use cases and has severe limitations in achieving automation for mission-critical operations.
Realization Approach
Private 5G is becoming a viable option for industrial applications, which generate a bulk of stranded data that core process control applications cannot access. Private 5G also offers more versatile connectivity configuration, which can address low bandwidth data from IoT sensors and high bandwidth data used in computer vision and robotics applications.
Solution Space
Private 5G has definite advantages in productivity and efficiency for industrial IoT applications. It offers speed of deployment, wide coverage area and deterministic connectivity , along with granular quality of service (QoS) configurations for critical applications.
Featured 5G LAN Platform
Celona is a 5G LAN platform offering a highly reliable and secure wireless coverage, leveraging the next generation private 5G network for enterprise and industrial automation use cases.
The market is flooded with smart devices for Industrial IoT – including sensors, connected PLC machines, scanners, ruggedized tablets, automated fork lifts (AFL), automated guided vehicles (AGV) and autonomous mobile robots (AMR). Envisaging an industrial plant with such modern technology requires next generation connectivity, no matter where these device move around in the plant, the warehouse, the yard, or the remote reaches of the field.
Industrial environments have traditionally relied heavily on wired connectivity protocols such as PROFIBUS, PROFINET, Modbus, and EtherCAT to connect their IIoT devices. With the cost of wired connectivity coming in at $8-$18 per square foot, connecting all remote IoT devices with cables becomes economically unfeasible. For example, consider a pressure sensor monitoring pipeline at a remote location in an oil refinery or a security camera monitoring a remote gate at the periphery of the facility.
When it comes to wireless solutions, the Celona team is constantly having discussions with customers to check if their Wi-Fi is “good enough”, and it is increasingly not! It is certainly not good enough for mission-critical applications. Any mine, refinery, warehouse, manufacturing plant that is trying to add automation to their operation, both indoors and out, is quickly running into the limitations of Wi-Fi. As an example, handover challenges mean that you cannot reliably and safely run AGVs and AFLs on Wi-Fi. Another common problem reported by customers is that even if they can run reliably in a small section of the warehouse where Wi-Fi coverage is not impeded by racks of goods, they cannot run that AGV down an aisle or into a corner, since the network performance plummets as they try to add more devices onto the network.
Here are some environments where Wi-Fi is simply not good enough:
Alternatives in Connectivity for Industrial Environments
Two other connectivity options in use today, Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) and public cellular, are also insufficient to meet modern automation needs. While LPWAN technologies work well for low bandwidth IoT sensing, they will not work for applications like computer vision and robotics that require high bandwidth, low latency connectivity. IoT devices connecting using public cellular service too face coverage and QoS challenges, and the standard business model of metering and charging for data quickly becomes cost prohibitive. Needlessly transporting sensitive business data over a public cellular network causes deep security concerns as well.
Gaining an ROI from an IIoT project relies on gathering high quality data from every device deployed so the data can be analyzed for continuous improvement. This is especially true as AI can increasingly be applied to monitor, troubleshoot, and apply new rules to any areas of operational inefficiency. Yet today, roughly 90% of all data generated in the field is classified as stranded data because it cannot be accessed by core process control applications. Innovations in predictive maintenance and digital twins are not possible without reliable access to large amounts of data.
There is a new type of wireless connectivity that has only become available to enterprises over the last few years, and so many aren’t fully aware of it – private 5G. Due to a change in spectrum policies across the globe, enterprises now have a choice to deploy their own private 5G networks. These are networks that they own and control. The data stays on their premises, with the added benefit of robust security. Businesses have been deploying these networks since 2020, and the trend is growing across industries.
5G for IIoT
Let’s take a look at some of IIoT use cases, and at how private 5G is providing connectivity for measurable improvements in productivity and efficiency.
Connected worker: Workers on the factory floor, in the warehouse and in storage yards are equipped with devices like tablets, scanners, smart helmets, gas detectors and push-to-talk. These devices need to work reliably anywhere on premises or in the field and require ubiquitous connectivity for operational efficiencies and worker safety.
Remote equipment monitoring and predictive maintenance: One of the biggest IoT use cases in industrial environments is to remotely monitor equipment and predict maintenance needs before anything breaks down. Connectivity to the equipment needs to be highly reliable and always available to keep things running smoothly.
Data gathering, digital twins, AI: As organizations progress into advanced stages of digital transformation, the underlying network is becoming the linchpin for determining success or stagnation. Technology layers like cloud, mobile, big data and AI deservedly get a lot of attention on the digitization journey. But these critical advances are ineffective when there is a fundamental lack of reliable connectivity to users, machines, and things throughout the plant.
IoT sensing in mobile robots: The last few years have seen incredible advances in automating industrial operations. This includes AGVs, AMRs, and robotics solutions for multiple workflows, which use a host of IoT sensors for video analytics, collision avoidance and navigation. The need for IoT sensors to maintain connectivity while moving presents yet another dimension to the problem since the robots traverse large areas, typically requiring a switch from one wireless access point to another along the way.
Advantages of Private 5G in IIoT
Owning and operating a private wireless network comes with several advantages for these emerging use cases:
Speed of deployment: A well-designed private 5G solution can be installed and deployed in hours, not weeks or months. The best systems are turnkey solutions that map into the enterprise IT infrastructure.
Wide coverage area: Because private 5G access points can efficiently transmit signal and antenna gains at higher levels than Wi-Fi, far fewer APs are required to cover the same area. Not only is this less infrastructure to manage, it dramatically reduces the cabling requirements for bringing wireless connectivity to these environments.
Deterministic connectivity: Applications that require real-time response from the network infrastructure – and associated data flows that require low packet loss, very little delay, and predictable bandwidth – need a transport medium that can identify these flows and prioritize them using strict service level objectives. Deterministic network capabilities that offer this type of functionality are a key component of private 5G.
Data security: Private 5G gives enterprises complete control and visibility over the network that transports sensitive business data, and the data can remain on premises. Given data privacy and compliance requirements within an enterprise organization, this is a must-have. For others, it lessens the risk of data loss or theft.
Granular quality of service (QoS) for critical applications: Private 5G can provide granular performance controls all the way down to the application and workload level. This means that mission-critical applications can be given connectivity preference within the private 5G network to ensure they are always on.
Simplified administration: The device onboarding process is far easier with private 5G since access control and authorization is built directly into cellular SIM cards, deployed as physical SIMs and eSIMs. Administrators can reduce the time it takes to provision devices and onboard users.
Cost savings: Private 5G can be delivered at a cost much lower than public cellular or wired solutions. In fact, they are being offered today at a cost that rivals Wi-Fi.
Real World Improvements in Connectivity for Industrial Environments
Here are some real-world results from one 1,260,000 square foot distribution center that Celona recently deployed. Using only 17% of the Wi-Fi indoor access points and 6% of the outdoor access points, the Celona solution was quick to install and offered these measurable improvements immediately:
Coverage: Indoor coverage increased from 78% to 99% throughout the 700,000 sq. ft. facility. Outdoor coverage increased from 59% to 95% throughout the 560,000 sq. ft. yard. This lit up the entire facility with high-performance wireless connectivity.
Latency: Measurements taken after the deployment showed average latency became consistent and was reduced by as much as 80% when compared to the Wi-Fi, especially when the network was under load or when devices are in motion. This means that scanners and AGVs perform as designed and react in real-time to any changes in the environment.
Total Cost of Ownership: The customer was pleased to find that the Celona private wireless solution is 47% the cost of Wi-Fi gear, and 9% the installation cost, providing a TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) that is 32% of Wi-Fi.
This article is based on the original source at PipelinePub
