Li Shan of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology: The large-scale development of 5G industry applications will go through four stages

On March 22, the fourth phase of the "5G Sail Series Salon" with the theme of "5GtoB Industry Chain Synergy to Boost Digital And Intelligent Transformation" was successfully held, and Li Shan, director of the Wireless Application and Industry Research Department of the Radio Research Center of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, shared a wonderful share on the topic of "5G Industry Application Scale Development Path and Thinking".

Radio Research Center, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology

Li Shan, Director of Wireless Application and Industry Research Department

5G Industry Applications from "1" to "10"

From "testing the waters" to "sailing away"

Mainland 5G commercialization has been more than two years, this year into the third year, 5G development focus has gradually focused on 5G applications, especially in recent years, our country in all levels of important policies have mentioned to expand 5G applications, enrich 5G application scenarios. From the national to the local level are actively promoting the large-scale development of 5G applications.

In Li Shan's view, the application of the mainland 5G industry is in the stage of "1" to "10", and is moving from "testing the waters" to "sailing away". From the overall situation of the application of the 5G industry, the integration of 5G and various industries has been continuously improved. According to the data analysis of the fourth "Bloom Cup", the number of entries in the fields of industrial Internet, smart parks, smart cities, information consumption, smart medical care, and cultural tourism ranked in the top six. With the maturity of technology and solutions, the number of 5G applications for people's livelihood services in smart cities, medical care, cultural tourism, education and other fields has increased significantly, and the combination of 5G applications and people's livelihood services has been continuously improved. From the perspective of breadth, the 5G industry is more and more widely used, not only combined with the national economy and people's livelihood, but also more and more closely integrated with the digital transformation of traditional industries. From the perspective of industry application maturity, the number of application projects is increasing, from pilot demonstration to scale replication. The Chinese Academy of Information and Communications Technology has conducted data analysis on more than 20,000 projects in the "Bloom Cup" competition for four consecutive years and found that more than 75% of the participating projects in the first "Bloom Cup" competition in 2018 are in the initial stage of "prototype design"; in 2021, there are more than 12,000 national projects in the fourth "Bloom Cup", nearly half of the participating projects have developed to at least the "commercial landing" stage, and 15% of the projects have entered the "solution replicable" stage.

As the application scenarios become clearer and clearer, the common technical capabilities and general terminal needs of the industry are gradually focused. In the 2021 "Bloom Cup" competition, the use rate of positioning, big data, edge computing, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence technologies exceeded 40%. Technologies that meet industry-specific needs, such as virtual private networks (network slicing), uplink enhancements, and 5G LANs, have gradually matured, and the importance of applications in 5G projects has increased significantly. At present, 5G applications in various fields have a particularly prominent demand for positioning technology.

The demand for terminal types in various industries has further focused, and the demand for terminals such as cameras/cameras, 5G CPE, 5G gateways, and sensors is strong. 5G CPE is still a common 5G connection method in various industries, and the use of 5G CPE relay signal connection devices in various 5G application solutions will continue. Cameras/cameras are used in more than half of the industries and have become a demand in projects in various fields.

"We can see on the terminal that the traditional terminal is a mobile phone, extending to wearables, tablets, laptops and so on. In the 5G era, the form of terminals is becoming more and more abundant, such as cameras, drones, VR/AR, AGV, etc., and many industries are more sensitive to terminal prices, which requires us to further reduce costs. Li Shan said.

In terms of network, after several years of exploration, China has stepped out of the road of 5G virtual private network; Europe and Japan are exploring the construction of 5G private networks to distribute spectrum to the industry, and these two roads are being explored. The most important thing about the virtual private network is to be able to replicate on a large scale, and only leading enterprises or more powerful enterprises have the economic and technical ability to apply for spectrum to build a private network. For a wider range of enterprises, what is more needed is a virtual private network, which meets the needs of the industry through lightweight core networks, UPF sinking, and base station equipment that matches their environment. In the future, industry networks need to be customized, and platform-based solutions have become the focus of competition in all aspects.

"The integrated application of the 5G industry promotes all-round changes in the fields of security, platform, network, and terminal, and promotes the formation of a new industrial system." The large-scale development of 5G industry applications is the result of the combined action of the demand side, the supply side and the development environment. Li Shan said.

Large-scale development of 5G industry applications

It will go through four stages

Li Shan said that the large-scale development of 5G applications will go through four stages, the first stage is the warm-up stage, this stage is to carry out technical verification, verify the availability of 5G technology in the industry, many industries have crossed this stage, has eliminated the uncertainty of technology.

The second stage is the initial stage, which carries out scene adaptation, clarifies the scenario and requirements, and forms a solution. Most of the key industries are currently at this stage.

The third stage is the growth stage, this stage to carry out industry adaptation, 5G application products and solutions continue to adapt to various industries and business exploration. Some leading industries such as industrial Internet, mining, and medical care have taken the lead in entering the growth stage and have begun to adapt to the industry, while logistics, smart cities, cultural tourism, etc. are still adapting to the scene and exploring the needs of the stage.

The fourth stage is the scale development stage, leading enterprises to achieve scale application, as soon as possible to reduce costs to achieve scale mass production, to find out the business model. At this stage, in addition to the leading enterprises can achieve large-scale cost reduction, it should be gradually extended to small and medium-sized enterprises, and the real realization of scale cannot ignore the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises.

The application scenarios of the 5G industry in key industries are gradually becoming clear, and will be gradually enriched as the technology and industry continue to mature and land. Industrial enterprises have requirements for 5G in terms of business, security, operation and maintenance, cost, etc., considering business needs and technological maturity, the development of 5G converged applications in the industrial field is divided into three steps. Recently, the network has been replaced, mainly with large bandwidth types of services, which can be achieved by replacing wired or WiFi networks. In the medium term, technology integration, with the gradual maturity of standards, application scenarios extend to the upgrading and transformation of the original production line, long-term integration and change, give full play to the performance of 5G networks, realize the deep integration of CT, IT and OT and other multi-system deep integration, 5G and industrial systems deep integration and change the original industrial production mode, and fully realize the transformation and upgrading of the industry.

There are three challenges

The top-level design needs to be strengthened

Li Shan said that the large-scale development of 5G industry applications has made certain achievements, but it still faces three challenges: insufficient overall ecological capabilities, insufficient collaboration inside and outside the industry, and insufficient application depth and breadth. In terms of ecological capabilities, the 5G ecosystem is more complex than the 4G ecosystem, and innovation collaboration is more difficult; in terms of collaboration inside and outside the industry, the current cooperation between the communications industry and vertical industry associations is not deep enough, and the 5G application standard system in many industries has not yet been established. The industrial supply capacity needs to be strengthened, and the products and services for the industry need to be further improved. At present, the contradiction between supply and demand of industry applications is mainly concentrated in the demand for industry customization and the ability of generalization of the 5G industry. The 5G industry is a highly generalized industry, which is characterized by the ability to form standardized products and reduce costs. While the industry demand has a certain degree of fragmentation and customization, 5G entering the industry will inevitably face a variety of customized needs proposed by the industry, and the cost will inevitably be higher. "When we develop 5G industry applications, we need to find a balance between customization and generalization, taking into account the cost performance, which is the core problem that 5G industry applications need to solve in the next step." Li Shan said. In terms of application breadth depth, in addition to the wide range of applications involving the industry, the number of application enterprises has a wide range, and the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises are still free from 5G applications and innovation.

In Li Shan's view, the essence of the problem faced by the scale of 5G industry application is a breakthrough in the mainland from imitation innovation to original innovation, and a concentrated embodiment of various contradictions and problems in the mainland's digital wave. The goal of 5G application scale is not only the prosperity and innovation of ICT itself, but also the realization of the overall development of digitalization in the mainland and the provision of innovation power and cornerstone for thousands of industries.

In order to promote the large-scale development of 5G applications, Li Shan suggested strengthening top-level design and building an innovation system. At the national level, through top-level design, we continue to exert "source power"; at the industry level, promote industry collaboration and achieve development "resonance"; at the vertical industry level, stimulate industry enthusiasm and promote application to go deeper and more realistic.

End

Author: Diao Xingling

Editor-in-Charge/Layout: Fan Fan

Review: Shen Qing

Producer: Liu Qicheng

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