Using 5G URLLC protocol to establish IMS safety zones for industry 4.0: a case study with an autonomous robotic system

Abstract

The adoption of wireless technologies in industrial environments has been a highly relevant topic of investigation, considering both the interplay between automation and industrial data communication systems as well as the goal to meet the stringent communication requirements of Industry 4.0, where network reliability and resilience are critical considerations. In such Integrated Manufacturing Systems (IMS), where people and machines interact in an industrial environment, safety aspects also play a fundamental role. In this context, this work investigates a new application framework for 5G URLLC communications in Industry 4.0, taking advantage of the low latency provided by the 5G infrastructure, through the integration of automation safety systems into an IMS architecture. In our setup, an Industrial Internet of Things, IIoT, device uses 5G connectivity to send an emergency stop command to an Industrial Autonomous Mobile
Robot. Our experiment achieved a maximum latency below 1 ms with a block error rate (BLER) below 10^-5 on the air interface, including scenarios of high consumption of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs). The results reinforce the great potential for using 5G networks for worker safety systems and automation elements in industrial environments.