5G Technology for networked, adaptive production

Low latency and high data rates enable process monitoring of the future

© Fraunhofer IPT
Blisk milling: Production of highly complex aero engine components at the Fraunhofer IPT

In order to increase productivity, efficiency and product quality, today's manufacturing processes and plants must be designed flexibly and adaptively. This requires the development of increasingly powerful sensor and control technology. At the same time, the manufacturing processes used are becoming more and more complex. Especially in machining, but also in robotics and distributed systems, this means even more complex motion sequences for workpieces and system components. As a direct result, highly reliable and wireless data transmission techniques are required to transfer the data of in-process sensors and control devices and meet the constantly growing requirements for transmission speed and latency.

The Fraunhofer IPT operates a unique test environment for the future mobile radio standard 5G in cooperation with Ericsson, the Swedish provider of mobile radio and telecommunications technology. In this environment, industrial application scenarios based on the wireless transmission standard can be tested and further developed. With its short latency times of less than one millisecond, high data rates of up to 10 Gbit/s and the ability to operate numerous devices simultaneously in tightly defined radio cells, 5G technology is particularly well suited for use in networked, adaptive production systems with extensive measurement and control technology. The large variety of machines and applications at the Fraunhofer IPT offers the opportunity to use and test the technology in a wide variety of applications.

The first industrial application to be implemented is a control system that uses a wireless smart sensor to monitor process stability when milling complex components such as BLISKs for turbomachinery. With 5G technology, wireless sensor connections for in-process data analysis are used comprehensively for the first time and therefore enable an adaptive control of the manufacturing processes with short reaction times.

Our services

  • Testing and further development of industrial application scenarios in the 5G testbed
  • Sensor and hardware development for 5G integration
  • Processing of research and development projects
  • 5G strategy development via 5G-Audit

Applications

Process monitoring
in BLISK milling

In BLISK milling, 5G is used for wireless transmission of process-internal sensor data. Due to its low latency, 5G enables high performance control for process optimization and facilitates the connection of sensors and other data sources at the same time.

Connected Machine

In the field of smart sensor technology, 5G is used for the flexible expansion of existing production systems with wireless sensor systems. Even components or complete systems of the existing control architecture can be wirelessly integrated into the Fraunhofer 5G network using universal 5G modules.

Projects

TARGET-X

Trial Platform for 5G Evolution – Cross-Industry on Large Scale

5G-Technology Ericsson and Fraunhofer

The technology for process monitoring in BLISK milling is developed in cooperation with Ericsson, where Ericsson is responsible for the operation, connection and integration of the 5G network deployed on the shopfloor of the Fraunhofer IPT.

Publications

5G-Implementation in Smart Factories

(Kiesel et al., 2020): Requirements for Economic Analysis of 5G Technology Implementation in Smart Factories from End-User Perspective, Fraunhofer IPT, 2020.

 

Comparison of 5G Enabled Control Loops for Production

(Kehl et al., 2020): Comparison of 5G Enabled Control Loops for Production, Fraunhofer IPT, 2020.

 

5G-Multi-Sensor-Platform

(Schmitt et al., 2020): Meeting the Requirements of Industrial Production with a Versatile Multi-Sensor Platform Based on 5G Communication, Fraunhofer IPT, 2020.