Siemens launches its first industrial 5G router

Business news | December 4, 2020

By Nick Flaherty

Siemens, one of the major industrial equipment suppliers, has developed its first industrial 5G router for connecting local industrial applications to a public 5G network. The device is being trialled in Siemens Automotive Test Centre and will be broadly available in spring 2021.

The Scalance MUM856-1, developed with Qualcomm Technologies, will allow industrial applications such as machines, control elements, and other devices can be accessed remotely via a public 5G network, providing a simple remote maintenance option for these applications using the high data rates offered by 5G.

The Sinema Remote Connect management platform for VPN connections can be used to provide easy and secure access to these remote plants or machines, even if they are integrated in other networks.

Industry 4.0 applications are adding local wireless connectivity with increasing demand for remote access to machines and plants. In these cases, communication needs to bridge long distances. Public mobile networks can be used to access devices that are located at a considerable distance, for example in other countries. In addition, service technicians can connect to the machines they need to service via the mobile network while on the go.

Public 5G networks are an important element of remote access and remote maintenance solutions. They can be used, for example, to provide users with very high bandwidths in urban areas with small radio cells and high frequencies. In rural areas, radio cells have to cover a large area, which is why lower frequencies are used. Particularly at the edges of radio cells, for example for LTE or UMTS, there are often significant losses in terms of both the bandwidth and stability of the communication connection.

A 5G router allows considerably more bandwidth with greater reliability is available at the edges of radio cells and the average data rate for users within a radio cell increases.

The Scalance MUM856-1 5G router also supports 4G so that operation is possible even if a 5G mobile network is not available. The device can also be integrated in private local 5G campus networks, and Siemens is testing this use case in its Automotive Test Centre in Nuremburg, Germany, with a private standalone 5G test network based on Siemens sub-systems.

The test centre uses automated guided vehicle systems connected using 5G with 100MHz channel in the 3.7-3.8GHz band in order to test current and future industrial 4.0 applications. German companies are able to rent part of this bandwidth on an annual basis and to make exclusive use of it on their own operating sites in a private 5G network.

Siemens worked with Qualcomm Technologies on the private network and the development of the 5G router.

“Industrial 5G is the gateway to an all-encompassing, wireless network for production, maintenance, and logistics. High data rates, ultra-reliable transmission, and extremely low latencies will allow significant increases in efficiency and flexibility in industrial added value,” says Eckard Eberle, CEO Process Automation at Siemens. “We are therefore extremely pleased to have this collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies so that we can drive forward the development and technical implementation of private 5G networks in the industrial sector.”

“Combining our 5G connectivity capabilities with Siemens’ deep industry know-how will help us deploy technologies, refine solutions, and work to make the smart industrial future a reality,” said Enrico Salvatori, Senior Vice President & President at Qualcomm Europe.

The centre allows solutions to be tested and developed around Release 16 of the 5G standard from 3GPP.

www.siemens.com/press/industrial-5g

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