5G promotes wireless manufacturing development

The transformation and upgrading of traditional industrial enterprises has gained a great deal of attention in recent years. 5G technology is seen a catalyst of digitalization and intelligentization of these enterprises.

The integration of industrial internet technology and manufacturing is the core part based on application of 5G technology, which is expected to revitalize traditional manufacturing in the digital age.

Yu Haibin, head of the Shenyang Institute of Automation, shared his view on opportunities and challenges that the manufacturing industry faces in the 5G age with the Science and Technology Daily.

He said that deep integration between 5G and industrial automation is expected to improve networking connectivity and stability, which will build a foundation for future industrial connections and support construction of full connective, smart factories.

The deep integration between 5G and industrial automation is expected to build a solid foundation for future industrial connection and support full connection of smart factories. [Photo/IC]

Automation and intelligence

According to Yu, the industrial Internet is both a net and an interconnected industrial system that will develop from interconnected intelligence-supported nodes to knowledge-oriented autonomous intelligence.

Although 5G technology and its applications have seen successful, Yu said that 5G's role in the industry is still at an initial stage.

He explained that the application of wireless industrial network technology in automation has been proved feasible in some industrial sectors as it is capable of solving problems of large-scale industrial measurement and control.

However, Yu stressed that performance of wireless technology in high-end processing manufacturing, particularly in precision motion control, is not as good as the traditional wired network.

In addition, industrial wireless technology is now used in various industrial sectors but one kind of technology is hard to support all kinds of different scenarios, he added.

5G technology has proved useful in three main scenarios - Enhanced Mobile Broadband, Massive Machine Type Communication and Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication, but its application is still in a stage of attempts and upgrading.

He affirmed one source for optimism is that 5G has played a crucial role in some innovative scenarios like telesurgery, and virtual reality and augmented reality-based remote demonstration teaching.

A 5G-based robot for telesurgery is on display at the 2021 China Brand Day Exhibition in Shanghai on May 12. [Photo/IC]

Application scenario and model innovation

Statistics indicate that 5G is expected to be able to connect as many as 1 billion places, 5 billion people and 50 billion things. That means in the future, everyone, every family and every organization will be connected with each other through digital means.

The global market share of industrial wireless technology so far is only about 6 percent, and 5G has even a smaller proportion as its application is still in its infancy.

However, it is seen as a key in pushing forward industrial infrastructure, production modes and innovation models and is expected to be a game changer in China's manufacturing development in the digital economy era.

5G is expected to be able to connect as many as 1 billion places, 5 billion people and 50 billion things. [Photo/IC]

Thanks to preferential policies, the industrial internet is developing vigorously. Its integration with 5G technology has given people reason to imagine the smart and highly-efficient life of the future.

Yu said that during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, China will make breakthroughs in traditional development models, promote innovation of manufacturing models and give full play to its advantages in mobile communication industry, particularly the 5G technology.

He added that China should promote innovation in application scenarios and models by making breakthroughs in technology, which may be expected to drive innovation in the entire industry, push forward continuous upgrading of the country's industrial enterprises and industrial development and consolidate its modern industrial system.

Meanwhile, penetrating 5G into the industrial system will help China keep and improve its strength in the technology.

Fusion technology and the future

To meet demands of development of major technological achievements and application in special scenarios, 5G technology should be continuously upgraded and promote construction of a brand-new wireless industrial network from the perspectives of both information communication and operational technologies.

He pointed out that China should concentrate on foundation and technological integration, and explained that 5G is the key infrastructure for comprehensive interconnection of people, machines and things and the pillar of the industrial Internet.

Integration of various emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, industrial computing and the industrial Internet of things, as well as security of industrial manufacturing, information platforms and whole process industrial chains, will be the carrier and channel for 5G to promote the new industrial revolution.

The new fusion technologies cradled in the process will power intelligent development of manufacturing, Yu said.

Integration of various emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, industrial computing, 5G and the industrial Internet of things will be a main player in the future industrial internet. [Photo/IC]

Yu and his research team have been devoted to wireless industrial control technology for more than 20 years. They created an internationally-leading wireless industrial control technology system and presided over the making of the WIA-PA standard - China's first International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) International Standard.

One of the birthplaces of China's robot and industrial automation industry, robotic technology development never stops at the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Many solutions to major and key technological problems have been born there.

For example, the Haiyi underwater glider broke the world record for the maximum diving depth of its kind in 2017 and the Haidou 1 unmanned submersible vehicle succeeded in diving to a depth of 10,907 meters in 2020.