FUDGE-5G is proud to announce that our project partner Cumucore has installed its 5G SA 5.4 core successfully with Ericsson 5G RAN to deliver Industry 4.0 use case for ABB, ABB is a FUDGE-5G advisory board member. Industry 4.0 use case utilizes new 3GPP features namely 5GLAN and Time Sensitive Network (TSN). The Industry 4.0 use case is based on Non-Public Network paradigm with a target to replace Ethernet cables and enabling countrywide wireless Ethernet networks. Using wireless technologies provides significant cost reduction during installation and more flexible factory lay-out options. Accurate synchronization between static object like robots and moving objects like AGVs is made possible by TSN.

5GLAN feature enables the integration of mobile networks as a part of existing IT infrastructure. Connectivity based on 5GLAN reduces the use of Ethernet cables and provides similar connectivity to for example autonomous vehicles. For traditional Ethernet communication devices need to find out the MAC address of its peer devices and with 5GLAN this feature is now available on 3GPP compliant networks.

Time Sensitive Network (TSN) feature provides mechanisms for deterministic communications over Ethernet networks and for this a precise synchronization is needed. TSN is crucial for time-sensitive use cases such as the operation of Industry 4.0. The TSN Application Function (AF) reports the 5GS bridge capabilities such as minimum and maximum delays between every port pair and per traffic class.

Cumucore offers a 3GPP compliant Packet Core that includes 4G EPC and 5G NC, supporting both NSA and SA functionality. The Packet Core is designed using microservices for each of the functions defined in the 4G/5G architecture. The system can be deployed in bare metal or virtualized platforms and provides a unique framework to build industrial and private networks. The design is focused on flexibility, cost reduction and efficiency leveraging the advantages of Network Function Virtualization (NFV).

In the FUDGE-5G project Cumucore will deliver new critical features for non-public networks. For this, Cumucore has developed 5GLAN and Time Sensitive Network (TSN) components as an application function on top of Network Slicing functionality.