31 Aug 2017

Huawei and Festo sign MoU for collaboration on smart manufacturing and 5G network slicing

Huawei has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Festo, a world-wide supplier of automation technology and a solution provider for technical education, to jointly explore the 5G network application of manufacturing and to promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry with 5G network slicing technology

The MoU is is based on 5G Cloud Robotics to test the Robot as a Service (RaaS) concept. This involves moving computations from the robot to the cloud, decoupling the industrial robots’ capabilities from rapidly changing computing requirements. Due to the control loop’s need for very low latency, 5G radio technology must be used to link the cloud with the robot.

The 5G Cloud Robot project is based on a moving robot platform that consists of a handling apparatus (robot arm) with six degrees of freedom. The 5G-based link uses 5G network slicing principles, which allow network parameters to be tailored to a user or application’s requirements.

An uRLLC (Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications) slice is used to fulfill the strong real-time and high reliability requirements of the closed control loop. Trajectories and control messages are calculated in the cloud, which supports low-latency service and ensures the scalability of the computing power and energy savings on the robot platform.