Department of Industrial Engineering

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Browsing Department of Industrial Engineering by Subject "5G mobile communication systems"

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    Development of a framework to evaluate the practicality of 5G for intralogistics use cases in standalone non-public networks
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-08) Lackner, Thorge; Jooste, J. L.; Palm, Daniel; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the context of Industry 4.0, intralogistics is exposed to an increasingly complex and dynamic environment, driven by a high level of product customisation and complex manufacturing processes. One approach to deal with these changing conditions is the decentralised and intelligent connectivity of intralogistics systems. However, wireless connectivity presents a major challenge in the industry, due to strict requirements such as safety, security and real-time data transmission and processing. Furthermore, this is becoming increasingly important with the mass adoption of technologies used for time-critical applications, such as autonomous mobile robots. The fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) is a promising telecommunication technique to fill this gap and meet the requirements of safety-critical and time-critical applications. In addition, 5G offers the possibility of establishing private 5G networks. Private 5G networks, referred to as standalone non-public networks, provide exclusive coverage for private organisations and offer high intrinsic network control and data security through isolation from public networks and the dedicated use of pure 5G components. However, at the present time 5G is still in the development process and is being gradually introduced in a continuous series of releases. In this context, the release process of 5G lacks transparency regarding the performance of 5G in individual releases, complicating the successful adoption of 5G as an industrial communication technique. Additionally, the evaluation of 5G against the specified target performance is insufficient due to the impact of the environment and external interfering factors on 5G in the industrial environment. The proposed framework takes a holistic approach to evaluate the practicality of 5G for intralogistics use cases by considering two fundamental perspectives. The first of these considers the use case and analyses technical parameters and characteristics of the use case to evaluate the feasibility of 5G. The second perspective investigates the application’s environment, which has a substantial impact on the practicality of 5G, for instance, the influence of surrounding materials. By adopting both perspectives, a holistic conclusion on the practicality of 5G can be drawn. A case study validates the proposed framework, in which an autonomous mobile robot use case is evaluated for the practicality of 5G. Subsequently, empirical measurements and the integration into the 5G standalone non-public network are carried out.