5G requires existing workforce operations… API solutions
NEF: A Key Feature for 5G Applications in the Industrial Sector

Factories aren't simply about exchanging data; they're places where people's lives are at stake. Protocols must be able to make their own decisions and stop operations. The biggest difference between 4G and 5G is the presence or absence of features designed to provide guaranteed services, such as time-sensitive networks.

Jihoon Kang, Team Leader of Ericsson-LG, presented on industrial communication networks under the topic of '5G Exposure for Convergence of OT/IT and CT and Service Commercialization' at the '2022 IIoT Innovation DAY' seminar hosted by e4ds.

Team Leader Kang said, “In order to apply 5G to industry, new communication technologies must be integrated with the existing IT and OT infrastructure,” adding, “Since replacing it with a new infrastructure is impossible, we must find an efficient method.”

Factories often use not just a single AGV, but dozens or even hundreds of them. Manually managing each AGV's IP address and routing table is nearly impossible. Furthermore, when AGVs are used across multiple factories, it's time-consuming to install new data each time they're moved to a new location. 5G is a technology that can dramatically reduce this time.

Assuming a contract with LG U+, the AGV and camera will be connected to the LG U+ network. The LG U+ network will then notify the factory to connect to the required network. The modems of both devices will then connect to the APN (DNN in 5G), and their IP bands will change. This entire process is automated, a key feature of 5G technology.

Until now, IT and OT infrastructure has been built around IP addresses. For factory security, even when a laptop is connected, network access control defines the IP address for that device. However, as temperature, vibration, and magnetic field sensors proliferate and various devices become interconnected, manually managing them all becomes nearly impossible.

5G networks are beyond the reach of general IT personnel. SKT is deploying 30,000 people to manage its network infrastructure. Deploying dozens of people to manage 5G in a typical factory is no easy feat. Team Leader Kang stated that operational methods and GUIs must change to ensure that 5G can be managed by existing personnel in the industry, and that APIs could be the solution.

Infrastructure that enables API-based management of connections from 2G to 5G has been incorporated into 5G. The Network Exposure Function (NEF) is the most critical feature for implementing 5G in the industry.

NEF functions like an app store for networks. When connecting AGVs and AI vision servers, it's difficult for managers to understand and develop the entire network infrastructure. The API developer portal provides a simple structure where developers can contract for API use and use it. NEF is an API standardized by the 3GPP, the global communications protocol management group, and will work regardless of the carrier.

Companies like NVIDIA will be pushing the direction of creating packages and releasing APIs, and then bundling those APIs together to create new APIs as a service, so that you don't have to create APIs every time you input what action to take when a certain event occurs.

Team Leader Kang added, “Pure 5G services will be available starting this year or next year,” and “SA will be supported to implement functions required by the industry, and will support ultra-low latency and industrial 5G configurations.”

When asked whether the 5G network frequency bands used in industrial use should be designated separately or whether the networks allocated to telecommunications companies should be used, Team Leader Kang said that two frequency policies are maintained in Korea.

The first is the frequency bands (3.5 GHz, 28 GHz) used by telecommunications companies, known as commercial networks. When telecommunications companies provide services to businesses, they use commercial network frequencies, but there are private commercial networks that can only be used by those businesses. Creating an APN provides logical network separation.
Second, there's the specialized 5G network launched by the government in November of last year. This is a frequency band (4.7 GHz, 28 GHz) that businesses can apply for and use, regardless of their telecommunications carrier. This is a model where companies apply directly or request specialized network operators (such as LG CNS) to handle applications or provide rental services.

In the case of specialized networks, permission was given to use them in factories, and in cases where they need to travel across the country, such as trucks, it was answered that it was right to use the telecommunications company's commercial network.

Meanwhile, the '2022 IIoT Innovation DAY' seminar was held by e4ds at the '2022 Smart Factory & Automation Industry Exhibition' held at COEX on the 8th. It was a place to look into smart factory trends and industrial communication networks to build them, and answered the questions of participants both online and offline.