Deployment of 5G Technology And Its Role In The IoT Space

The burgeoning demand for a faster network with higher capacity that can serve connectivity needs in enterprises for high-speed machine to machine communication or mission critical applications has been positively impacting the growth of the market. The 5G spectrum expands the capability of cellular technology by widening the frequencies on which the data is transferred. This enhanced frequency spectrum for 5G usage enhances the overall bandwidth of cellular networks. This allows customers to connect multiple additional devices. The surge in manufacturing use cases uRLLC-based human-robot collaboration, eMBB-based AR-assisted operations and mMTC-based interaction with the digital twin are resulting in speedy expansion of global 5G IoT market. 5G’s core benefits of high speed, low latency and connection density are set to enable a paradigm shift in performance compared to other IoT connectivity.

Rising demand for 5G Core (5G Core) and New Radio (NR) standalone technology will revolutionize businesses by delivering massive machine-to-machine communication solutions, real-time device-to-device networking, and ultra-reliable, low-latency functionality for things like autonomous devices and next-generation IoT. This can be considered vital in driving the 5G New Radio Standalone Architecture market growth forward. The Standalone 5G core architecture drives the implementation of a wide range new features and raises the functionality beyond just more bandwidth. This increased functionality of Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLCC) service. URLCC is a key feature for applications that need close to real time responsiveness which includes applications such as self-driving cars, service and industrial robotics as well as machine vision. Another major feature that is associated with standalone 5G is Massive IoT which includes specialized M2M (machine to machine) communication protocols. Standalone 5G is paramount to deliver this combination of URLLC and massive IoT. Standalone 5G opens up the ability to slice the network into customized virtual pieces that can be tailored for the specific needs of particular businesses while maximizing its own operational efficiency, and such factors are contributing towards growth of the market.

As per IndustryARC research, 5G SA is in its initial phase as non-standalone to standalone migration is an evolution that different carriers would complete at different speeds in coming years, and thus during the forecast period 5G SA market is estimated to witness a speedy expansion. End-to-end network slicing with higher scalability and enhanced quality-of-service management enables new business models and use cases across all verticals and creates new revenue opportunities for CSP. The independent design has several advantages, including increased performance, better flexibility, and reduced complexity. 5G standalone enables the super-fast response times and faster access to higher data rates, that are required by Cloud gaming, immersive media, and vehicles or cobots control. In May 2021, Quectel Wireless Solutions released two new 5G New Radio (NR) module series - the RG500S and RM500S. These modules are based on the new Qualcomm 315 5G IoT Modem-RF System and are intended to support customers in building dedicated 5G devices for a variety of industries including industrial IoT, retail, smart energy, private 5G networks. The aim of these solutions is intended to accelerate commercial Use of 5G Standalone devices.

State of 5G Deployment

Fifth Generation communication is the successor of the 4G communication system and was deployed in 2019. The typical parameters for 5G standard includes 10,000 times higher capacity, peak data rate up to 1Gbps, cell edge data rate of 100Mbps and latency less than 1ms. The key areas of research being explored by the major players of the market for 5G standard includes millimeter wave technology, 5G waveforms, multiple access schemes, enhanced modulation, duplexing techniques, massive MIMO and highly dense network. The deployment of 5G network has utilized the formation of more intelligent architecture, with Radio Access Networks (RANs) that is no longer constrained by base station proximity or complex infrastructure. Currently extensive field testing is being performed to set the 5G standards and the technology’s viability.

Mobile Subscriptions, By Technology, 2021

While Standalone 5G Technology is the future of the telecom sector, currently the focus is on a quicker implementation of 5G Technology which is being achieved by piggybacking on existing 4G LTE infrastructure. The growth for 5G NR Non-Standalone architecture is majorly driven by the factor that early introduction of 5G network, compensated by already-prevailing LTE coverage. This is a reasonable approach for the operators when taking the ROI factors into the consideration, and it justifies the slight preference for NSA mode in terms of priority. Non-Standalone 5G NR utilizes the existing LTE radio and evolved packet core network as an anchor for mobility management and coverage while adding a new 5G radio access carrier to enable certain 5G use cases. The non-standalone 5G new radio technology is primarily concerned with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB). The eMBB enables 5G-enabled mobile devices to utilize mm-wave frequencies for improved and increased data capacity, while voice communication uses the currently existing 4th generation technological infrastructure.

The non-standalone 5G new radio technology focuses primarily on enhanced mobile broadband to deliver more dependable connectivity with larger data-bandwidth. Service providers aiming to provide high-speed connectivity to their clients are increasingly using 5G new radio non-standalone technology. Non-standalone modes are more appealing to providers since they allow them to exploit existing network infrastructure and assets, as opposed to standalone (SA) technology, which needs huge expenditure. These aspects are facilitating the global expansion of 5G new radio non-standalone architectural markets. In August 2021, Powered by Ericsson advanced 5G technology, Asia Pacific Telecom Co., Ltd (APT) has established the first 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) Multi-Operator Core Network (MOCN) in shared spectrum and network architecture in Taiwan. In February 2021, Altran, part of the Capgemini Group, announced plans for its pre-integrated and validated 5G NR (new radio) software offering on the Qualcomm 5G RAN platform for small cells (FSM100xx), in collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. This solution is designed to accelerate development time and lower development cost for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) building high-speed, low-latency private and public 5G small cells and radio units based on the Qualcomm 5G RAN platform while creating an open 5G radio access network (RAN) solution with optimized Altran 5G L2 and L3 RAN software. The software supports both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) modes of operation, supporting enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLCC) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC) deployment use cases for telecommunications, enterprise and industrial solutions. Such developments are further anticipated to positively impact the market growth.

5G Roadmap and Timeline

However, many counties and cities have banned or halted the adoption of 5G due to its adverse effects on health, and to protect the public health and local environment. Rigorous regulations have been implemented to reduce the endorsement of the roll-out of 5G.  5G technologies are far less studied than 4G or 3G related to human health and impact on the environment. There is increasing focus on understanding how the addition of 5G radiation, which is high frequency, to an already complex mix of lower frequencies will impact on public health with focus on both physical and mental health perspectives. RF Radiation is increasingly being recognized as a new form of environmental pollution. Similar to other commonly present toxic exposures, effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF EMR) could potentially be a problem in the future especially without a control environment. These effects are likely with the potential magnification of effects through synergistic toxic exposures and other common health risk behaviors. In March 2019 for example, Portland, Oregon City officials stated their opposition to the installation of 5G networks due to potential adverse health effect supported by Mayor and two Commissioners. This is not just limited to the U.S. Many Towns and cities in UK such as Brussels, Glastonbury, Frome have halted or slowed down the deployment of 5G networks due to health concerns. These growing Governmental limitations on 5G network deployment is analyzed to hinder the market growth.

Alongside this, 5G offers a significant increase in speed and bandwidth, but its more limited range requires further infrastructure. 5G antennas and base stations are smaller in the 5G era, but more of them would have to be installed on buildings or homes to compensate for their shorter range. Cities need to install extra repeaters to spread out the waves and extend range, while also maintaining consistent speeds in more densely populated areas, and thus, deployment of additional infrastructure requires high cost, which in turn create a negative impact on the growth of the market. A small tower and 5G cell site costs $30,000–$50,000 and due to such high costs small and medium enterprises are not opting for 5G. Investments needed in key components for a 5G network coverage, include spectrum, sites and fibre. In 2020, the cumulative costs of deploying 5G enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) in the United Kingdom (UK) reached around 2.7 billion euros. According to IndustryARC research, cumulative costs in the UK will have reached around 11 billion euros by 2025.

5G IoT Implementation and Its Expanding Use Cases

The advantages offered by 5G IoT open up possibilities for deployment in smart manufacturing applications. 5G offers mass additional capacity to provide high speed services and connect substantial numbers of devices, whereas lower latency is a key differentiator that sets 5G apart from existing wireless connectivity solutions, and opens the pathway to truly deterministic levels of control for manufacturers and thus, 5G is emerging as a key connectivity solution in industry 4.0 applications. Ericsson stated that by 2030 there will be 4.7 billion wireless modules across smart manufacturing floors, with a value of over US$ 1 trillion. The GSMA group is focused on understanding and projecting the benefits of 5G IoT for sectors such as manufacturing. They achieve this by bringing together leading operators and manufacturing companies around the world. The use cases that 5G can enable are broadly split between improving factory efficiency and product build and quality. ABI estimates that across all manufacturing use cases, the introduction of cellular IoT to the factory floor will result in 8.5% operational cost savings, with a return on investment of over 9 times the amount over 5 years for some use cases. As manufacturers are bolstering the adoption of digitalization with an aim to curb rising costs and improve ROI, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) promises new process efficiencies and cutting-edge technological advancements that is set to increase profitability and shop floor productivity. As per IndustryARC research, the industrial IoT market size is forecast to reach $238 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR 16.07%. 5G’s high capacity, wireless flexibility and low-latency performance accelerates the shift from legacy systems to connected technologies, ushering in smart factories of the future. 5G is set to provide last-mile connectivity by providing the speed, reliability, capacity and mobility that manufacturers require for successful IoT implementation. There is a need for ultra-low-power, and ultra-low-cost communication platforms to drive the creation of new value-added services, and optimization driven by real-time data, collected during the complete lifetime of a product, and such factors are driving the market growth forward.

5G networks can integrate IoT solutions, 5G NR connectivity, industrial hardware devices as well as legacy 4G LTE and LTE-M communication solutions together under one interoperable platform. They also reduce the hindrance of dealing with multiple solution providers by delivering the complete solution through a single service provider. The ‘open networking’ and open source initiatives driven by 5G will lead to diversification of equipment supply industry. The O-RAN alliance in particular is engaged in widening the supplier ecosystem with strictly defined architectures and standards to ensure interoperability between different suppliers while at the same time allowing existence of variants of network equipment subsystems. These increased plug-and-play interoperability capability driven by these initiatives will lead to improved operation of the network and between networks and devices. These new technologies are being adopted as the industry shifts to Industry 4.0 including implementation of IoT, edge and cloud computing, big data and analytics, blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), additive manufacturing, enhanced energy storage and robotic process automation (RPA). The deployment of these technologies is driving the digitization and transformation of manufacturing operations. This in turn drives improved operational efficiency, faster time to market, better product quality and production line performance.

Industries are in need for an optimized practical solution in order to move up to the next stage of the industrial revolution. 4G/LTE is not sufficient enough to handle the growing needs set by manufacturing and industrial automation such as high precision, high speed machine-to-machine communication, huge volume data transfers and so on. Key 5G features such as enhanced mobile broad band (eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communication (uRLLC), and massive machine type communications (mMTC) support multiple smart manufacturing use cases, and thus there has been a transition from 4G to 5G in manufacturing operations for enhancing the capabilities of autonomous systems using computer vision, data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

5G enabled private network holds significant potential for accelerating functions like monitoring and controlling highly complex manufacturing processes, mobile robotics, logistics and multisite production chains. Rising investments towards connected asset monitoring enabling real-time asset data analysis assists in providing a powerful tool for productivity improvement. The burgeoning demand for predictive maintenance in manufacturing sector leveraging critical communication infrastructure provides data analysis tools and techniques, which are used to monitor equipment condition for regular operational wear and tears. Such factors are set to propel the market growth of 5G IoT market in the coming years. The American Society for Quality found that for every dollar spent on a quality management programme, there was a return of $6 in revenue, $16 in cost reduction and $3 in profit6. There are multiple areas where costs can be saved through the deployment and utilization of IoT services. These application areas include the cost of planning, quality issues reduction utilizing improved planning as well as data quality provided by IoT. This implementation of 5G IoT will also improve the planning, production and design processes alongside reducing the internal costs and reducing wastage, reworking and rejections. Alongside this, the external costs after the product has left the factory, such as repairs, warranty claims and returns will also be significantly reduced through 5G IoT. 

Existing and future use cases aligned to 5G technical capabilities

To maintain quality, VR and AR systems combined with digital twin analytics technologies can provide a comprehensive virtual or augmented system. This system can then be used for planning changes to products and processes, prototyping and testing of production runs, training staff and augmenting their actions on the production line to minimize errors and bringing in remote expertise or providing complex data to production and maintenance engineers on the factory floor. VR and AR technologies use a large amount of bandwidth, which 5G IoT can support both indoors and outdoors. 5G’s enhanced bandwidth compared with other wireless communications technologies help robots and cobots to be monitored and updated in real-time as the environment changes. 5G’s low latency allows for actions to be monitored close to real-time. Cobots, especially, will alter their actions second by second depending on the human coworker and the environment around them, and this can be monitored and automated interventions made if there is an issue. There has been a surge in demand for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in industrial sectors like medical and pharmaceutical, chemicals, food and beverage, machinery and equipment and others. Robots are set to develop greater autonomy as time-sensitive networking in 5G connects them to intelligence in the edge cloud. This will open up more opportunity for them to undertake hazardous and repetitive tasks. The usage of the edge cloud and implementation robotics which are re-programmed to assist everywhere in the factories can also be delivered. The need for a reliable communication between robots and a fleet control system is increasing with fleet size and automation level in a factory or warehouse, and such factors are set to propel the market growth in coming years. 

5G IoT vs Other Communication Technologies

5G wireless technology is set to deliver higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, ultra low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users. Higher performance and improved efficiency empower new user experiences and connects new industries, and thus there has been a burgeoning demand for 5G hardware products to fulfill mission critical application requirement. While 4G LTE is mostly focused on delivering much faster mobile broadband services than 3G, 5G is designed to be a unified, more capable platform that not only elevates mobile broadband experiences, but also supports new services such as mission-critical communications and massive IoT. 5G can also natively support all spectrum types including licensed, shared, unlicensed spectrums as well as low, mid and high bands. 5G can also enable the utilization of a wide range of deployment models, from traditional macro-cells to hotspots as well as new ways to interconnect such as device-to-device and multi-hop mesh. 5G is also designed to get the most out of every bit of spectrum across a wide array of available spectrum regulatory paradigms and bands—from low bands below 1 GHz, to mid bands from 1 GHz to 6 GHz, to high bands known as millimeter wave (mmWave), and thus such factors have accelerated the shift to 5G enabled devices from 4G/LTE among industry leaders.

Comparative Analysis of different IoT Connectivity technologies 

5G modules, gateways, sensors, processors and so on make up the hardware part of the 5G IoT. With the rising need for 5G IoT, the 5G IoT module is one of the most important components in the 5G industrial IoT market's hardware sector. Leading IoT module suppliers are also investigating to position certain items in the market. Both component and module manufacturers are engaging in research and development while also exploring chipsets for specific manufacturing applications. Vendors are working on a number of additional advances, including device modifications that reduce device size and techniques for integrating with other modules, in addition to 5G modules. In smart manufacturing application, there has been a rising demand for 5G enabled robotic arm which comes along with PIR sensor, colour sorter and ultrasonic sensor to drive the decision making based on algorithm and sensor inputs. Such factors are aiding the market growth. 5G offers these advantages over other IoT technologies as well.

Comparative Analysis of different IoT Connectivity Technologies 

However, Inter-cell interference is one of the major technological issues that need to be researched properly to optimize 5G technology. 5G networks are analyzed to overcome capacity and throughput challenges by adopting a multi-tier architecture where several low-power Base Stations (BSs) are deployed within the coverage area of the macro cell. Thus, the Inter-Cell Interference (ICI) which is caused through the simultaneous usage of the same spectrum in different cells creates severe problems. ICI reduces system throughput and network capacity, and has a negative impact on cell-edge users and overall system performance, and thus inhibiting the growth of the market. As a result, effective interference coordination techniques are required particularly focused on user-to-cell association. Apart from this, there is resource allocation required to mitigate severe impact of ICI on system performance in 5G heterogeneous networks (HetNets).

Traffic management is another challenge of 5G IoT market. In comparison to the traditional human to human traffic in cellular networks, a greater number of Machine to Machine (M2M) devices in a cell may cause serious system challenges. For example, radio access network (RAN) challenges, which causes overload and congestion in particular will be a major issue. The growing demand and usage of cloud computing will drive the need for increased bandwidth and internet speed. The resulting distributed structure makes the internet resilient and robust. However, there will be an exponential increase in bandwidth requirements and thereby 5G network capacity due to higher IoT device numbers. This could become a major issue for internet exchange points (IXPs) in the next few years. Furthermore, 5G would have a huge task to offer services to heterogeneous networks, technologies, and devices operating in different geographic regions. So, the researchers are facing technological challenges of standardization of 5G services to provide dynamic, universal, user-centric, and data-rich wireless services to fulfil the high expectation of people. Despite this many industries, including manufacturing are significantly adopting 5G and 5G IoT technology.

Conclusion

5G in manufacturing industry brings speed, efficiency and new capabilities through data-driven processes leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) devices, robotics and cloud, mobile broadband through 5G networks, edge and quantum computing, artificial intelligence and so on. Mission and business-critical manufacturing use cases require low latency, high performance and high reliability that only 5G can provide. As the 5G networks are set to transmit data 20 times faster than 4G, the factory floor will not only be more automated and operationally efficient but also more data-driven. The factory floor will utilize contextual data to complete tasks and make decisions in a more efficient manner. The growth is mainly attributed to rising adoption of 5G powered asset tracking and management, which enables business organizations to capture and analyze historical and real-time operational and asset data as a part of improving asset performance and mission critical decision making in core business operations. In February 2022, Radisys Corporation announced about the launch of its Connect RAN 5G IoT software stack, which supports diverse IoT use cases from ultra-low-cost, low battery device driven deployments like metering and asset tracking to mission-critical, ultra-low latency, time-sensitive industrial deployments and others. Such new developments are set to create significant growth opportunities for the global 5G IoT market in the coming years. Benefits of using 5G in business optimization include greater reporting speed, deeper insights and more accurate reporting of data. Thus those industries that are leveraging 5G IoT platform for optimizing business processes have seen improvements in margins, labor productivity and asset productivity with the promise of faster connectivity, near-zero latency and higher capacity.

Growing deployment of next-generation of industrial-strength wireless connectivity based on LTE and 5G technologies to create local private, reliable networks in APAC has been positively impacting the growth of 5G IoT market. Deployment of 5G enabled private cellular network in APAC region creates a dedicated network with unified connectivity, optimized services and a secured means of communication to automate its factory operations, creating a more efficient digitally connected plant of the future. 5G is set to bring huge transformation in automotive manufacturing. Growth in data collection and analytics through IoT devices, coupled with 5G’s faster transmission speeds is analyzed to create more visibility throughout the production process. Connected sensors enable manufacturers to derive meaningful insights from real-time interactions among machines, systems, assets and things, and thus, such factors are analyzed to propel the market growth in coming years. 

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About IndustryARC: IndustryARC is a Research and Consulting Firm that publishes more than 500 reports annually, in various industries such as Agriculture, Automotive, Automation & Instrumentation, Chemicals and Materials, Energy and Power, Electronics, Food and Beverages, Information Technology, and Life sciences and Healthcare.