The connected factory of the future: A product blank be it for a sneaker or a car, is associated with an administrative layer. The administrative layer contains information pertaining to the individual product i.e. the blank is to be painted white. In doing so, the administrative layer must meet with high security standards so that no unauthorized persons can see or even influence the properties. The blank communicates with the help of the administration layer with each relevant station in the production line and thereby becomes an autonomous cyber-physical-system. Fraunhofer FOKUS has developed the Industry 4.0 software OpenIoTFog, with which such administrative layers can be created and administered. It thereby integrates industry network standards like the IEEE standard TSN (Time-sensitive Networking) and communication standards like oneM2M. A customized mass production becomes simpler and more cost-efficient since a complete reprogramming of large production lines is no longer necessary. The blank itself contacts the helpers it requires for its production.

Upcoming 5G infrastructures will ensure a dynamically configurable secure software-based network, which uses decentralized computing resources to save and administer the administrative layers where they are used – at the so-called edge, close to the devices and sensors used in the factories. This is known as Edge computing or Fog computing. As an extension of central cloud systems in combination with virtualization of network functions (NFV), it enables the setting up of agile and secure intelligent networks. The open source software OpenBaton, a reference implementation of the ETSI NFV standard, jointly developed by the Technische Universität Berlin and Fraunhofer FOKUS, ensures a dynamic programming of distributed Edge or Fog nodes.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Magedanz, chairman of the #Berlin5GWeek and director of the business unit Software-Based Networks at Fraunhofer FOKUS, explains: “5G is not only the subsequent standard of 4G. 5G apart from new mobile technology combines previous mobile networks like LTE as well as fixed access networks and satellite networks into one common software-based network architecture. Depending on the access network used, 5G ensures extremely low latency times of up to one millisecond and compared to current 4G/ LTE networks an up to 100 times faster data rate. Depending on the application, 5G can support 1000 times the number of end devices. Thereby special networks for various applications with a high quality of service and data security are possible where required like e.g. for Industry 4.0 or the automotive industry.”

In order to already support customers in the development of 5G products, Fraunhofer FOKUS offers the “5G-ready Trial Platform” a test environment, where network operators, manufacturers, and IT companies can test new convergent 5G network architectures and 5G services. The “5G-ready Trial Platform” is a part of the Berlin “5G-Testfeld”, an initiative of the Fraunhofer Institutes FOKUS and HHI and the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises.

Moreover, for the #Berlin5GWeek, Fraunhofer FOKUS will release a high-performance cloud-based IoT-communication platform as open source software that can also be used for the connected factory. The ETSI oneM2M standard conform communication platform OpenMTC supports numerous various sensors and device technologies and can be combined with other service platforms like the Industry 4.0 software OpenIoTFog. Over and above the industrial application it can be used in any machine-to-machine communication.

Furthermore, at the #Berlin5GWeek numerous demonstrators on the topics of network virtualization and application-specific 5G networks based on the two software platforms Open5GCore and OpenBaton will be shown. These platforms are already in use with various network operators and manufacturers around the globe.

You want to know more about the use and application scenarios of 5G, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Edge and Fog computing? You are cordially invited to visit the #Berlin5GWeek :

• IEEE-Conference Software-defined networks and virtualization of network functions, 6.-8. November 2017, Fraunhofer Forum
• Edge Computing Forum, 7. November 2017, Fraunhofer-Institute FOKUS
• Industrial Internet of Things Forum, 8. November 2017, Fraunhofer-Institute FOKUS
• FUSECO (Future Seamless Communication) Forum: 9.-10. November 2017, Fraunhofer-Institute FOKUS