Use cases, requirements and challenges of 5G communication for industrial automation

The growing digitization of manufacturing processes requires enhanced connectivity between moving objects and machines in a factory environment. Communication for factory automation is characterized by periodicity, determinism and isochronicity, and has very different system and communication requirements compared to traditional mobile broadband for smartphones. In this paper, we analyze several industrial automation use-cases which demand the highest application requirements (ex. closed-loop motion control with < 1ms cycle time and 99.9999% service availability) and discuss the key design challenges for the upcoming 5G standard. We identify the main challenges for the 5G-NR system to support isochronous and deterministic communications for industrial automation. Finally, we provide estimated numbers of supported nodes/links for a closed-loop motion control use case with different bandwidths, which indicate the potential for 5G for industrial automation.