5G and Beyond Technologies in Smart Manufacturing, 2nd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

Communication systems are the backbone of future factories. In this context, digitization and networking are taking on an increasingly important role for manufacturing companies to make their production processes more flexible and, at the same time, more robust, ultimately with the vision of resilient factories.

Cellular technology has a high potential to become an important factor in future manufacturing because of the ability to wirelessly connect multiple assets in factories and simultaneously guarantee them a determined quality of service (QoS). Ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) is of particular importance in this context.

To further develop the 5G ecosystem, additional R&D efforts are required to make industrial 5G devices marketable and validate their performance in the corresponding use cases. Furthermore, the integration of 5G networks into an industrial LAN and interaction with edge–cloud systems is of high importance. The coexistence of public and non-public cellular networks also needs to be investigated, as well as different 5G services, e.g., positioning, time synchronization and network exposure interface.

Moreover, beyond 5G and 6G system concepts need to be analyzed for manufacturing applications. Human-inclusive production, sustainability aspects, energy-efficient designs, AI/ML-native cellular architectures, dependable communication and network digital twins are some of the topics seen relevant for enabling smart manufacturing.  

Therefore, this Special Issue covers essential aspects of current research topics on the use of 5G in production, while also addressing potential features beyond 5G and their relevance for manufacturing

Prof. Dr. Robert Schmitt
Dr. Joachim Sachs
Guest Editors

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• 5G use cases for smart production
• industrial 5G devices
• performance analysis
• network coexistence analysis
• 5G industrial LAN and edge–cloud integration
• beyond 5G proof-of-concept prototypes for smart production
• deterministic communication
• early 6G prototype systems

• 5G Technology in Smart Manufacturing in Electronics (9 articles)