The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, RWTH Aachen University and Ericsson have expanded the 5G Industry Campus Europe in Aachen with a cloud RAN infrastructure.
infrastructure.

The Radio Access Network (RAN) is an important component of mobile networks and enables wireless communication between mobile devices and the mobile provider's core network. Until now, operating your own 5G network has required separate servers for processing RAN data. Cloud RAN offers an alternative here through the use of standard servers on which a virtualized RAN application and industrial applications can be operated together.
Cloud RAN technology makes it possible to operate the entire RAN for the 5G system on existing local cloud systems without having to provide separate servers for RAN operation. To achieve this, the RAN software is decoupled from the hardware: the virtualization of the RAN enables the use of manufacturer-independent hardware and at the same time supports the operation of industrial applications, for example for processing sensor data, speech recognition, image processing or for controlling robots on the same system. The parallel and needs-based operation of applications reduces resource requirements and makes it easier for companies to set up a 5G infrastructure that is individually adapted to their needs.

Paving the way for Cloud RAN in the industry

The "CLOUD56" research project, funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV), aims to make Cloud RAN technology ready for industrial use. To this end, the partners are researching and validating the use of Cloud RAN at the 5G-Industry Campus Europe using four specific application scenarios from industry: through the development of a sensor-to-cloud pipeline for process monitoring in milling, the virtualization of control and object recognition for mobile robotics in freely interlinked assembly and cloud-based, robot-supported prefabrication in construction production. In addition, virtualized assistance functions for medical applications in operating theatres and clinics are being investigated in the field of healthcare.

Research platform for future 5G applications

The implementation of Cloud RAN technology at the 5G-Industry Campus Europe serves as a research platform for future 5G applications for industry. The flexibility and scalability of the Cloud RAN testbed gives companies the opportunity to evaluate and implement individual network solutions according to their own requirements.
Project coordinator König Niels, Head of Production Metrology at the Fraunhofer IPT, emphasizes the importance of this success: "For us, Cloud RAN represents a paradigm shift in the field of industrial 5G applications. Thanks to a completely new architectural approach, Cloud RAN promises an extremely scalable network deployment on standard hardware as well as synergies with cloud-based industrial applications. In addition, it contributes to the creation of a modern and sustainable IT infrastructure for a wide range of industrial applications."