In August 2022, the "5G Fully Connected Factory Construction Guide" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guide") officially released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pointed out that 5G factories make full use of the integration of new generation information and communication technologies represented by 5G to create new industries. Internet infrastructure, newly built or renovated production sites such as production line level, workshop level, factory level, etc., to form an advanced factory with extensive connection of production units, deep integration of information (IT) operations (OT), full utilization of data elements, and efficient empowerment of innovative applications .

The "Guide" clarifies the construction goals of 5G factories, that is, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, it will mainly target manufacturing industries such as raw materials, equipment, consumer goods, and electronics, as well as key industries such as mining, ports, and electric power, and promote the development of thousands of enterprises. 5G factory construction, building 1,000 classified and distinctive factories, creating 100 benchmark factories, and promoting the in-depth development of 5G integrated applications.

After the release of the "Guidelines", it attracted widespread attention from industrial enterprises and basic telecommunications enterprises, and some enterprises quickly deployed and implemented it. According to statistics from the Industrial Internet Industry Alliance through the "5G Factory Seed Project", there are more than 1,800 5G factory projects across the country, involving 29 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government, covering equipment manufacturing, electronic equipment manufacturing, petrochemicals, mining, steel, and electricity. 10 "5G + Industrial Internet" key industries such as , textiles, building materials, ports, and home appliances, as well as other industries such as non-ferrous metals and materials, the project types include production lines, workshops, factories and other levels.

Through the rapid promotion of 5G factories, a good development trend has been formed in factory infrastructure construction, 5G applications, industrial ecology and other aspects, effectively promoting enterprises to improve quality, reduce costs, increase efficiency, and achieve green and safe development.

A three-layer infrastructure architecture of “end-edge-cloud” based on 5G network has been basically formed.

The "Guide" clearly states that 5G factory construction includes four aspects of construction, including infrastructure construction, factory site upgrades, key link applications, and network security protection. The infrastructure includes the construction of 5G networks, industrial network interconnection, edge computing, business systems, etc.

Judging from the construction situation of the "5G Factory Seed Project", basic telecommunications companies are building 5G networks in the project area in response to project construction needs and future development of the company, and most of them use a hybrid system where core network elements such as UPF are sunk into the factory. Private network construction model, and connect the 5G network to the Internet of Things, production control network, production management network, security monitoring network, office network, etc. according to actual business needs. Industrial enterprises are transforming on-site equipment into 5G to enhance the mobility of equipment to meet the needs of enterprises for rapid line change, flexible production, and equipment movement within a wider range.

The 5G factory makes full use of the wide connection and large bandwidth of the 5G network and deploys a large number of sensors and cameras in the factory to collect various data at the production site and lay a data foundation for the digital transformation of enterprises. At present, the number of on-site equipment terminals accessed through 5G networks is gradually increasing. Through the supporting network management system, network operation conditions and equipment networking conditions can be monitored in real time.

At the same time, 5G factories further guide enterprises to accelerate the construction of infrastructure such as industrial Internet platforms, edge computing, and data storage nodes, and deploy them on industrial Internet platforms, edge clouds, edge gateways, edge controllers and other facilities according to the actual business needs of enterprises. Industrial software or APP, combined with artificial intelligence, big data, AV/VR and other technologies, improves the efficiency of enterprise production, operation and management, reduces enterprise operating costs, and improves production energy efficiency.

At present, through the construction of 5G factories, a three-layer infrastructure architecture of "end-edge-cloud" based on 5G networks has been basically formed, which effectively solves the problems in the past that the network in the factory cannot interoperate and the data information is "isolated".

Promote the expansion of "5G + Industrial Internet" application scenarios to production control links

In the construction and development of 5G factories, "5G + Industrial Internet" application scenarios such as machine vision quality inspection, intelligent factory logistics, and production site monitoring have been widely implemented in various industries.

Among them, machine vision quality inspection makes full use of the large bandwidth characteristics of 5G. In the quality inspection process, quality inspection terminals such as industrial cameras or laser scanners are connected to the 5G network through embedded 5G modules or deployment of 5G gateways, and the products captured in real time are High-definition images are transmitted to the expert system via the 5G network. The expert system performs real-time analysis based on artificial intelligence algorithm models to determine whether products have defects; on this basis, it effectively records product quality information to help companies achieve product quality traceability and product optimization.

Intelligent logistics in the factory makes full use of the wireless transmission characteristics of 5G. Material transport vehicles such as AGVs and RGVs in the factory have built-in 5G modules or are connected to 5G gateways, so that they can be arranged according to the route of the logistics dispatch system and timed between the three-dimensional warehouse and each production station. , fixed-point, quantitative and accurate distribution of materials, effectively reducing warehousing costs and improving operational efficiency and warehousing management capabilities.

Production site monitoring makes full use of the characteristics of 5G such as wide connection and large bandwidth, and connects a large number of sensors, cameras, and data collection terminals deployed at the production site to the 5G network, and transmits the collected monitoring data such as environment, personnel movements, and equipment operation back in real time. To the production site monitoring system, it can carry out high-precision identification, customized alarms and regional monitoring of production activities, and provide real-time reminders of abnormal conditions to provide guarantees for safe production, energy efficiency management and control, etc.

At the same time, during the construction of 5G factories, industrial companies, basic telecommunications companies, solution providers and other units are exploring "5G + Industrial Internet" application scenarios and extending them to production control links.

Currently, commercial 5G can achieve technical indicators of latency less than 20 milliseconds and reliability higher than 99.99%. The control system can be deployed in the cloud and combined with video and collected data to achieve remote control of equipment.

For example, in the steel industry, "one-click steelmaking" and "one-click ironmaking" have been realized, in the port industry, operators have been able to remotely control multiple gantry cranes, and in the mining industry, operators have been able to remotely control tunnel boring machines and other typical application scenarios.

At the "2023 Industrial Internet Conference", five units, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China Unicom, Seiko Automation, Shanghai Biao Automation, and Huawei, jointly released a 5G high-reliability, low-latency automotive flexible production line, achieving 5G latency of 4 milliseconds, The technical index of reliability is 99.999%, and it is applied in many production control links such as robot gripper switching and accompanying fixture control in the automobile production line, further shortening the automobile production cycle and increasing production capacity.

Strengthen cooperation and form a "two-way" development trend

5G factories require joint construction by industrial companies, basic telecommunications companies, solution providers or system integrators.

In the process of promoting 5G factories, basic telecommunications companies not only provide 5G network construction for 5G factories, but also work with industrial companies and solution providers to integrate the pain points and difficult problems that urgently need to be solved in the production, operation, and management of industrial companies. Together we will discuss the effective application of 5G networks, create a series of application scenarios, and provide subsequent network operation and maintenance services for industrial enterprises.

Industrial companies and solution providers have also sent relevant experts to proactively discuss with experts in the information and communication industry, and gradually make appropriate adjustments to production cycles and production processes to adapt to 5G, and further promote the application of 5G in core aspects such as production control. It also puts forward the requirement that 5G can be built directly into industrial equipment, thereby lowering the threshold for equipment to access 5G networks, which will be more conducive to industrial applications of 5G.

At the same time, industrial enterprises proposed to hand over subsequent network services to basic telecommunications enterprises and cooperate with basic telecommunications enterprises by purchasing services. It can be said that the construction of 5G factories has further promoted in-depth cooperation between industry and the information and communication industry, and has formed a "two-way rush" development trend.

At present, through the construction of 5G factories, the average value of industrial enterprises in terms of quality improvement, cost reduction, efficiency increase, and green and safe development is increased by 10% to 17%, and the value expected by enterprises from the construction of 5G factories is generally higher than 50% , even some companies exceed 100%.

In the next stage, it is recommended to further accelerate the advancement of "5G + Industrial Internet" in terms of technology, products, applications, and ecological construction. All relevant units jointly develop a standardized plan for industry 5G factory construction, reduce enterprise construction costs, and speed up the clarification of 5G factory construction indicators. In order for enterprises to carry out construction in a more targeted manner; regularly conduct evaluations of the effectiveness of 5G factory construction, strengthen the establishment of 5G factory benchmarks, and continue to "brighten" the 5G factory brand.