For the past few decades, wireless communication technologies have primarily addressed the problem of delivering high-speed data to consumers using smartphone devices. Standardization of 5G within 3GPP started with the vision to address more verticals than smartphones. As a result, 5G has been designed from the ground up with ultra-reliability, low latency, and a wide choice of spectrum to meet the demanding requirements of many mission-critical verticals. These new capabilities make 5G ideal for industrial automation and the Industrial Internet of Things. Through private networks, 5G can deliver ultra-high capacity and low latency to numerous industrial sensors, actuators and controllers in standard and safety control applications, whether in mmWave or traditional sub-6GHz spectrum. 5G promises to be a viable technology that augments or even replaces traditional wired industrial network connections, changing the rules of the game in terms of cost, flexibility, reconfigurability, sustainability, and time-to-market for industrial operations worldwide.

Manufacturing requires flexibility to respond to changing market demands. For example, they need to restructure their industrial operations to meet changing demands during a pandemic: from soda to sanitizer, clothing to medical masks, or auto parts to ventilators. The experience is that agility, efficiency, resilience and sustainability are important aspects of smart manufacturing.

Industrial private 5G is an enabler of digital transformation for smart manufacturing, helping to deliver business outcomes such as sustainability and flexibility by supporting key application use cases:

Connected work applications increase visibility and intelligence through mobile digital tools such as analytics, digital twins and augmented reality (AR).

Mobile asset applications can improve agility and efficiency with autonomous vehicles such as automated guided vehicles (agvs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs).

Untethered fixed industrial asset applications increase sustainability by reducing the need for wired infrastructure to connect static equipment, static equipment to rotating parts (slip ring replacement), and moving equipment (operable when static, non-operable when moving). Untethered fixed industrial assets also increase flexibility by reducing the time to adjust industrial operations to changing market conditions.

Can industrial-specific 5G help enable these application use cases in manufacturing and process operations? To address this question, Rockwell Automation (an industry leader in industrial automation) partnered with Ericsson (an industry leader in cellular network infrastructure), Qualcomm Technologies (an industry leader in 5G technology) and Verizon (a leading network service provider) partnered. The research collaboration evaluated industrial private 5G technology with Ethernet/IP™ connectivity, a core industrial communications technology from Rockwell Automation. The key learning objectives are to ensure that the EtherNet/IP network is ready for Industrial Dedicated 5G and to confirm that Industrial Dedicated 5G is ready for demanding EtherNet/IP applications.

This illustration is a simplified representation of the developed testbed illustrating an unconstrained fixed industrial asset application use case consisting of:

Rockwell Automation Standards and Safety Controls. One zone controller with GuardLogix® safety controller. 12 distributed areas with FLEX5000® standard and safety I/O representing slides, machines or equipment. Note that the purpose of the safety controllers in each distribution area is to collect test bed telemetry data only.

Ericsson Radio Access Network (RAN) infrastructure. It consists of a millimeter wave base station using 28GHz (n261) and LTE band 2 using Release15 and a private 5G core (3GPP Release-15, non-standalone (NSA), pre-configured).

Qualcomm Mobile Test Platform (MTP). A mobile test platform for data collection and traffic flow analysis, used as an industrial 5G to Ethernet adapter, called User Equipment (UE).

Verizon's thought leadership on 5G industrial network innovations has made important contributions to defining the requirements, target feature set and scope of testbeds, including a roadmap for future verification requirements.

Testing was conducted according to a well-established test plan provided by Rockwell Automation with strict zero-failure success criteria. It outlines a series of test cases establishing reliable EtherNet/IP Standard and Safety (CIP Safety™) I/O connections from a GuardLogix area controller on the left, with a range of Requested Packet Interval (RPI) settings, from 5GRAN to FLEX5000 standard, and establish safety I/O connection in the area 1 to 12 on the right side. RPI is the rate at which the controller and I/O exchange data.

Successful test results show that the current state of industrial-only 5G (3GPP Release-15, NSA, on-premise, mmWave spectrum) has low enough latency and jitter to support RPI settings that outperform Rockwell Automation's support for EtherNet Default setting for /IP standard and safe I/O connections. These RPI setups will support many untethered fixed industrial asset applications (skateboards, machines or equipment) using the EtherNet/IP standard and safety I/O communication.

Outcomes of the learning objectives emphasize:

• Ethernet/IP is ready for industrial-specific 5G.
• The current state of 5G for industry is ready for the EtherNet/IP standard and safety I/O applications.
• Industrial-specific 5G can help achieve business outcomes such as increased sustainability and increased agility in industrial operations.

The research collaboration will continue with plans to evaluate the application of Ethernet/IP time synchronization and distributed motion on 3GPP Release 16 Standalone (SA) 5G for industry. Initial proof-of-concept test results are promising.

In summary, thanks to the collaboration between Rockwell Automation, Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies, and Verizon, we were able to verify that a true 5G-enabled industrial automation test case works as promised. As a result, industrial operations can leverage the 5G standard to meet high-performance wireless connectivity and business assurance needs as they move toward smart manufacturing.