To produce goods and deliver services in the physical world, special communications are needed. These communications often necessitate low latency, high reliability, and high communication service availability.
The upcoming 5G systems are targeted to extend mobile communication services beyond mobile telephony and broadband into new vertical domains with special communication services to provide automation for various use cases and services.
Communications for automation in vertical domains come with demanding and diverse requirements with respect to latency, data rates, availability, reliability, and in some cases, high-accuracy positioning.
Communications in this sphere must support applications for production in the corresponding vertical domain (for example, industrial automation and energy automation, but also transportation). This needs to be incorporated into new security standards and mechanisms for dependable communications.
The 3GPP standards organization has analyzed vertical use cases that resulted in several vertical communication requirements. The well-understood Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for latency, jitter, reliability, communication service availability, and data rate apply for verticals, as well. In addition, there are other requirements that should be considered and folded into the potential new service requirements for 5G systems.
This white paper details the automation concepts and communication modeling in the vertical domains, mainly to foster a common understanding. It also provides an analysis of deployments with automation, discusses the requirements, illustrates security mechanisms in these domains, and identifies potential new 5G security requirements.
The paper further addresses key representative use cases for communication in automation in vertical domains.
This white paper originally posted on 5G Americas