With the continuous development of the fifth-generation mobile communication technology and the gradual acceleration of the global commercialization process, my country occupies a leading position in the world in terms of 5G network construction, user scale and number of applications, forming a network covering industries, medical care, education, transportation, etc. 5G application landscape in several key industries. As the connection node between the network and the industry, 5G terminals play an indispensable and key role in the process of realizing 5G empowerment of thousands of industries, and have received the attention of the industry and the support of national policies.

Analysis of the Development Status of Terminals in the 5G Industry

The development of the industry is inseparable from the support of relevant national policies. Considering the important role of 5G industry terminals in promoting 5G commercialization and industrial modernization, the national and local levels have issued relevant policies to promote the development of 5G industry terminals. Specifically, in 2019, 5G applications will move from the mobile Internet to the industrial Internet and enter the "first year of commercial use". In March 2020, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Promoting the Accelerated Development of 5G".

In 2021, the "14th Five-Year Plan" proposes to accelerate the large-scale deployment of 5G networks, build 5G-based application scenarios and industrial ecology, and promote energy efficiency improvements in emerging fields such as 5G and big data centers. In 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "2023 Work Plan of the Industrial Internet Special Working Group", further emphasizing the need to strengthen the R&D and application of 5G industrial chips, modules, and terminals to improve the hardware foundation for my country's industrial development.

Based on the good industrial environment for 5G industry terminals established by national and local policies, the types of 5G industry terminals are gradually enriched, which increasingly meet the customized needs of industry users. The 5G industry module classification and layering strategy, streamlining 5G chips and other technologies have effectively reduced the overall cost of 5G terminals in the industry, and the price of 5G modules in the domestic industry has dropped to about 400 yuan. At the same time, customized 5G industry terminals are gradually appearing on the market. For example, in 2022, customized 5G industry terminals with integrated positioning, high-precision timing and industrial protection (such as automated 5G power distribution equipment, mine 5G automatic guided transport vehicles, mine 5G explosion-proof equipment, etc.), effectively improving the stability and efficiency of 5G in industrial applications.

In addition, 5G industry terminals integrate technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and edge computing to improve the intelligence level of traditional equipment. The combination of port gantry cranes forms an efficient industry solution.

5G Industry Terminal Development Trends and Challenges

At present, 5G industry terminals have received the support of relevant policies and the attention of the industry, but their development still faces challenges in terms of supply, technology maturity, price, and operation and maintenance. First, the range of options for 5G industry terminals is small. At the same time, as an important form of 5G industry applications, the implementation cycle span of 5G customized network projects is usually 2 to 3 years, which is a great test for manufacturers. Second, the relevant technologies for 5G industry terminals to cooperate with customized network projects to carry out terminal IP transformation and improve security and reliability are still immature. Third, the price of terminals in the 5G industry often plays a decisive role in the fierce market competition of current customized network projects. However, the current terminal costs in the 5G industry are relatively high, and its operation, maintenance, and transformation are difficult, making small and medium-sized manufacturers discouraged. Restrict the development of 5G industry terminals.

Considering the current challenges faced by the development of terminals in the 5G industry, as well as the digital and intelligent development needs of various industries in the future, the terminals in the 5G industry will make further breakthroughs in the three directions of customization, intelligent cloudification, and scale.

Customization

As the 5G commercial process continues to advance, technologies such as enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low-latency communication, and large-scale machine communication continue to evolve, enabling 5G to cover ultra-high-definition video and other high-traffic enhanced mobile broadband services, driverless and industrial automation Various business scenarios such as services requiring low-latency and highly reliable connections, large-scale Internet of Things services, etc., meet the needs of industry development. Specifically, facing the application needs of many industries, 5G industry terminals will be mainly customized in terms of form and function.

In terms of terminal form, industry applications will give rise to customized 5G industry terminals to meet industry needs and carry connection tasks. In addition to the current traditional terminal forms such as customer pre-equipment/customer premise equipment (Customer Premise Equipment, CPE), DTU, and gateway, AGV, intelligent robot, vehicle-mounted router, industrial camera/camera, drone/vehicle/ship This type of terminal will serve as an extension and supplement of the terminal form of the 5G industry to further meet the development needs of the industry.

In terms of terminal functions, 5G industry terminal functions will also be more abundant to meet the needs of specialized and refined industries. Specifically, unlike traditional mobile phones, tablets and other 5G consumer terminals that focus on versatility and standardization, the needs of industry users for terminal functions are often closely related to specific usage scenarios. Key industries such as industry, medical care, education, and transportation have put forward higher requirements for the reliability, stability, and delay performance of 5G industry terminals, as well as functions such as protocol conversion and networking. At the same time, considering the complex and changeable industrial terminal operating environment such as high temperature, high humidity, and dust, the research and development of terminal products that operate stably and reliably in specific scenarios has become the focus of the current industry. Based on customized research and development of key capabilities such as multi-protocol conversion, low cost, waterproof/explosion-proof, security, 5G Local Area Network (5G LAN), and in-depth understanding of industry solutions, we provide users with "turnkey" products , has become an important topic for the future development of 5G industry terminals.

Intelligent cloudification

With the development of cloud computing, cloud storage, edge computing, artificial intelligence and other technologies, "device-edge-cloud" intelligent collaboration will accelerate the trend of terminal cloudification, and realize rapid response, flexible deployment, and global scheduling of industry user services. Specifically, for massive device connection scenarios such as 5G fully connected factories, the storage, calculation, and processing of massive connection data can be deployed on the cloud, providing low-latency, low-cost, high-reliability, At the same time, based on "device-edge-cloud" intelligent collaboration, intelligent cloudification of 5G industry terminals can be realized, thereby effectively reducing terminal costs and expanding the application range of 5G industry terminals.

Scale up

Through pilot explorations in various industries, 5G industry terminals are bound to move toward scale. In the commercial stage, the maturity of 5G industry terminal customization technology will further stimulate industry demand, which in turn will lead to more abundant and diverse industry application scenarios and expand the scale of the 5G industry terminal market.

Currently, the minimum centralized purchase price of 5G modules is about 400 yuan. In 2022, the lightweight 5G (5G Reduced Capability, 5G RedCap) standard will be frozen. Compared with 5G eMBB modules, the cost of 5G Redcap modules will drop by 40% to 70%. It is expected that the price of 5G modules will drop to less than 200 yuan by the end of 2024 . The accumulation of terminal technology in the 5G industry and the decline in module prices will surely promote the large-scale development of terminals. According to the forecast of China Electronics Information Industry Development Research Institute, by 2025, my country's 5G base stations will reach more than 3.6 million, giving priority to completing 5G network coverage in key areas. By then, there will be more than 3,200 5G terminals in total, of which 2,000 are industry terminals. Therefore, how to carry out large-scale replication of 5G industry terminal products will become the main challenge for the development of 5G industry terminal products and determine its future market value.

Carrier Layout and Future Development Direction

Operators play three basic roles in the 5G industry ecosystem: infrastructure providers, application innovation promoters, and industry ecosystem integrators, and will play a key role in the future development of 5G industry terminals and even 5G. In the context of the further acceleration of the development of my country's digital economy, operators should comprehensively consider factors such as industry ecology, market demand, and high-tech competition between China and the United States, and rationally plan their own layout and direction of efforts in 5G industry terminals.

Improve the 5G industry terminal category to meet the new market demand

In the future, operators should focus on creating two major 5G industry terminal systems, intensive and high-quality, and build a 5G industry terminal library through classified product operations, and then improve the 5G industry terminal category to meet market demand and improve the 5G industry terminal ecology.

Intensive 5G industry terminals: mainly group-level 5G industry terminal products with clear needs, large scale and great significance, such as CPE, DTU, and gateway products. Operators should implement the "four unified" model of unified specification, unified shortlisting, unified policy, and unified sales, focus on centralized procurement, grasp key links, reduce costs, and then expand the market scale, and cooperate with chip, module, and terminal manufacturers and industry users to share revenue.

High-quality 5G industry terminals: mainly industry terminal products with relatively small demand and small market size, but essential for 5G industry applications, such as smart industrial cameras, virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR), augmented reality (Augmented Reality, AR) and mixed reality (Mixed Reality, MR) and other terminal devices. Operators should consider focusing on "independent research and development + external cooperation", and further empower 5G industry terminals through the structural design of software and hardware decoupling, interface standardization, and capability modularization.

Strengthen key technology research and promote industry development

Facing the convergence trend of communication technology (CT), information technology (IT), and operational technology (OT), operators should actively grasp market trends based on the advantages of traditional CT, and further transform into comprehensive information service providers. Specifically, operators should continue to strengthen research on key technologies of terminals in the 5G industry, and actively increase their ability to convert protocols (industrial protocols, etc.), connectivity ("5G+", satellite communications, visible light communications, etc.), computing capabilities (edge/ End-to-end computing power collaboration, etc.), perception fusion capabilities (synthetic integration, etc.), energy-saving capabilities (low-power technology, passive IoT, etc.) and security capabilities (industry data privacy protection, application security protection), etc., Solve the pain points of the industry and promote the development of the industry.

Jointly build the alliance cooperation system to promote the ecological prosperity of the alliance

On the basis of improving industry terminal categories and strengthening key technology research and development, operators should make full use of their own understanding and insight into the industry market, and actively build industry alliances, with the purpose of building ecological cooperation bridges, promoting exchanges among alliance members, and promoting joint innovation , forming an empowering system in three aspects: ecology, channels, and publicity, providing ecological partners with various resource supports such as alliance membership certification, business opportunity discovery, incubation and sharing, channel platform financial support, and terminal procurement and sales cooperation. At the same time, operators should work with chip, module, and terminal manufacturers to focus on key industries, deepen industry application scenarios, and create benchmark projects to jointly promote the prosperity and development of the terminal ecosystem in the 5G industry, help 5G applications go deeper and more practical, and promote thousands of industries digital transformation upgrade.