092 - Integrity in 5G Private Networks for Industry 4.0

5G private networks have been of interest to industrial applications, such as smart manufacturing, process automation, or logistics, supporting the Industry 4.0 revolution across all verticals. 5G private networks can deliver communications with very low and guaranteed latency and ultra-high reliability, previously only possible through wired solutions. Besides requiring ultra-reliable and low-latency communication, many emerging industrial use cases require high-accuracy and trustworthy positioning. These use cases include asset tracking, collaborative mobile robots, or autonomous machines. 

Existing 5G standards and protocols already enable positioning in 5G networks. Delay, phase, and angular measurements estimated on the uplink and/or downlink channels allow to determine the absolute position of 5G terminals. The performance axes receiving the most research attention up to now include accuracy and availability, leaving the means of ensuring integrity with 5G private networks widely unexplored. The expansion and optimisation of 5G private networks to provide integrity commitments will strengthen the position of 5G PNT and enable its use for new, more demanding use cases. 

Provision of integrity with 5G private networks will require detailed understanding of the contribution of network elements to the positioning performance (e.g., fault modes characterization) along with necessary commitments, adequate system architectures, and key performance indicators. 

The objective of the activity is to study and demonstrate system architectures, solutions, error budgets, and fault modes within 5G private networks enabling integrity for Industry 4.0. 

The tasks to be performed shall include: 

• To review the state-of-the-art regarding the positioning and integrity with 5G signals and potential hybridization with other navigation sensors.
• To consolidate the use cases, user needs, requirements, and scenarios relevant for integrity-related applications in Industry 4.0. 
• To study the nominal error budgets and fault modes within 5G private networks and propose solutions and system architectures optimizing the threat model.
• To propose solutions for time and frequency synchronization of 5G private networks using GNSS, bounding its impact on positioning. 
• To design and develop technical means, complemented by monitoring of commercial 5G deployments, to demonstrate and characterize the nominal error budgets, fault models, and proposed system solutions.
• To define expectations and recommendations for users and 5G private networks allowing to meet the user needs.

The main outputs of the activity will consist of:

• Innovative system architectures and solutions of 5G private networks enabling integrity for Industry 4.0.
• Error budgets, fault mode characterization, and relevant key performance indicators. 
• Technical means to allow demonstration of the developed solutions. 
• The activity will also foster the adoption of 5G private networks for integrity-related applications within Industry 4.0.