On the Way to Industry 4.0 with 5G—Pepperl+Fuchs is Founding Member of 5G-ACIA

In a world of connected plants and machines that communicate with each other, fast data connections are needed to make such scenarios possible in the first place. The coming 5G mobile communication generation is of critical importance, because present communications standards cannot fulfill the requirements of industrial applications.

To define the standards of this mobile communication generation and ensure suitability for automation, the “5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation” (5G-ACIA) task force was founded on April 3, 2018 at the German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturer’s Association (ZVEI). Pepperl+Fuchs, a manufacturer of industrial automation technology, is also part of this initiative and is working together with 32 other members to prepare 5G for industrial use.

Compared to the previous mobile communication generation, 5G focuses more on “machine-type communication” and the Internet of things to realize wireless Industry 4.0 applications. “With 5G, not only the higher possible bandwidths are important, but also the reduced latency in the millisecond range, which is necessary for mobile applications with demanding real-time requirements,” says Benedikt Rauscher, Head of Global IOT Projects and Industry 4.0 at Pepperl+Fuchs.