5G commercialization has entered a critical period of empowering vertical industries, in order to further expand the guiding role of 5G in the digital and intelligent transformation of social enterprises and realize the replication of 5G network scale, the industry needs to explore industry applications in depth, tap the differentiated needs of different users and different application scenarios, and create technical solutions that truly match the needs of the industry. With the promotion of 5G private networks at home and abroad and the combined application of emerging technologies such as cloud computing and big data, the industry's demand for 5G private networks is also evolving in the direction of cloud, network and industry collaboration.
In-depth industry
Grasp the four new trends of 5G private network demand
Based on the practical experience analysis of 5G private network deployment from 0 to 1 by domestic operators and equipment vendors, it can be found that the current digital and intelligent transformation of enterprises has four major demands for 5G network customization, cost controllability, deployment agility, and ease of use.
First, ability customization. Different industries and applications have personalized requirements for network performance, safety, and capability, such as an automobile manufacturing plant requiring the delay of the production control process to be less than 4ms, and a mine requiring sub-meter accuracy requirements for positioning capabilities. The individual needs of the above different industries need to be customized to meet.
Second, the cost is controllable. Industry users generally pay attention to network cost performance, especially some enterprise users have limited budgets for information transformation and are price sensitive. 5G private networks need to optimize end-to-end costs and reduce industry entry thresholds.
Third, deploy agile. Network construction needs to match the production rhythm of users, which is not only simple and fast, but also can package and deliver the network and business in one stop. For example, some coal mines and factories require weekly or even heavenly opening time limits to keep up with the production rhythm as soon as possible; in addition, most industrial enterprises put forward the demand for network and business pre-integration, hoping to quickly obtain one-stop solutions.
Fourth, it is easy to use. Users require private network products to be Internet-based, supporting online ordering, autonomous use, and simplified O&M. For example, some manufacturing enterprises and coal mines require that the network status be locally visible and manageable, lightweight operation and maintenance, and open up various data to achieve unified system management and autonomous services.
Based on the above four major needs, small base stations, as an important product form for the deployment of private networks in most scenarios in vertical industries, will play a key role in the process of empowering the industry.
Based on demand
Five major capability elements for building a 5G smart and simple small base station
Based on the advantages of network capabilities and the integration development strategy of cloud and network, China Mobile is committed to creating a comprehensive service of "connection + computing power + capacity". Focusing on the characteristics and needs of the 5G industry private network, considering that the base station can play the advantages of natural distributed deployment and ubiquitous access, it is necessary to build a 5G intelligent and simple small base station for the industry, with five major capability elements of "network extreme simplification, capability modularization, service integration, deployment agility, and operation and maintenance intelligence", and comprehensively match the industry's four major needs for capability customization, cost controllability, deployment agility, and ease of use. This is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 Capability elements of 5G smart and simple small cell
Capability Element 1: Network simplification. Simplify network hardware and software functions, communication processes, network architecture, and even communication protocol stacks on demand for specific industry scenarios, reducing the complexity of network planning and construction.
Competency Element 2: Competency Modularization. The modularization of network element equipment, network capabilities, and application capabilities can be reused and flexibly combined on demand for different industry scenarios and needs, and the overall information service scheme for specific industry scenarios can be constructed.
Competency element three: service integration. Integrate network elements, enabling platforms, cloud service platforms, industry application platforms, and operation platforms on demand, and provide one-stop delivery capabilities for clouds, networks, and industries with "high-quality connections + rich capabilities + unified management".
Competency Element 4: Deployment Agile. Simplify network construction through integrated device integration and cloud technology, realize fast network deployment, computing power deployment and service deployment, and shorten the network delivery and provisioning cycle.
Capability factor five: O&M intelligence. Around the Zhijian small base station to provide users with self-service, self-operation and maintenance portal and platform, to help users to achieve easy order operation, operation interface understandable, requirements mapping automation, resource orchestration automation, network operation and maintenance intelligence, service optimization and adaptive.
On the one hand, based on the characteristics of cloudification and openness, the agile integration of industry customization applications helps operators realize the value expansion from connection capacity and computing power; on the other hand, through industrial cooperation, jointly build a mutually beneficial and win-win collaboration ecology, which can further help the industry to achieve digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading.
In-depth practice
Create a cloud network industry integrated small base station solution
At present, the generalization technology of the industry is gradually becoming a scale, and the base station can build a unified cloud base based on the general server to achieve all-cloud evolution, and in the future, cost reduction and unified management of resources can be realized based on large-scale deployment. Therefore, combined with the capability system and concept of Zhijian small base station, the cloud network industry integrated small base station product implementation scheme is launched, and through the integrated deployment of "connection + computing power + service", it not only provides basic network connection capabilities, but also realizes rich capability opening and strict application deployment based on one-stop IaaS, PaaS and SaaS, and creates integrated core value-added services. It can provide low-cost, agile, simple and capable one-stop private network services for the industry to accurately match the needs of the industry. The implementation scheme of the cloud network industry integrated small base station is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Implementation scheme of integrated small base station in cloud and network industry
The cloud network industry integration small base station has the comprehensive capabilities of network, cloud and industry, and provides integrated services of "high-quality connection + rich capabilities + service integration" for vertical industry users.
First, in terms of network capabilities, the cloud network industry integrated small base station provides SLA network guarantee for local data not leaving the park and grading and binning. Supports direct forwarding of local traffic, which meets the security isolation requirements of data without leaving the factory at low cost and quickly, and the hierarchical network capability not only provides extreme performance such as super upstream, ultra-low latency, and ultra-high reliability, but also provides multiple levels of speed, delay, reliability, and deterministic assurance capabilities, accurately matching the differentiated SLA guarantee requirements of different scenarios and different services.
Second, in terms of cloud service capabilities, the one-stop IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS platforms not only provide local computing power for edge service deployment, but also package a variety of network capability components, IT general capability components, and industry-specific application components, and realize the opening of network capabilities to the outside world through the MEP unified gateway to enable industry applications.
Third, in terms of service integration services, it can support the customization and pre-integration of net-excellent APP and third-party industry APP, such as providing AGV navigation and PLC remote control for the industry; providing positioning, video surveillance and other applications for the mining industry, and realizing business pre-integration and integration services as a whole.
At present, the cloud network industry integration small base station has completed pilot verification for industrial manufacturing, chemical fiber textile, mining, hospitals, entertainment, campuses and other different industry scenarios. Network element integration, capability integration, computing power integration, and application integration greatly simplify the network architecture and configuration, save transmission resources and hardware investment, reduce construction costs, and truly realize network simplification, deployment agility, service integration, capability modularization, and intelligent operation and maintenance.
Summary and outlook
With the continuous deepening of 5G applications in vertical industries, cloud, network and industry integration has become a technology trend in the industry, and the multi-party pilot of the smart and simple small base station capability system and the cloud network industry integration small base station has verified market expectations, which has not only been recognized by industry users, but also led the evolution direction of the industry. In the follow-up, China Mobile will continue to promote the improvement and sustainable development of the ability of smart and simple small base stations, and work together with the industry to promote the continuous implementation of the cloud network industry integration small base station program, collaborative innovation, form a joint force, and jointly empower the digital and intelligent transformation of the industry.
End
Author: Institute of Wireless and Terminal Technology, China Mobile Research Institute
Zeng Kaiyue Cheng Jinxia
Editor-in-Charge/Layout: Fan Fan
Review: Shen Qing
Producer: Liu Qicheng
Click to learn about the "East Counting West Counting" Industrial Development Forum
I knew you were "watching"