Via 5G networked system components communicate in real time with the digital twin of the production plant at the car manufacturer Gestamp in Spain. (Picture: Gestamp)

In Barcelona, 5G history is being written: Spain’s first digital factory with 5G participation has been implemented this week in the city, where hundreds of thousands of mobile phone experts make the pilgrimage to the MWC every year.

The internationally active automotive supplier Gestamp, with support from Telefónica, has integrated 5G in one of its factories as part of the 5G Barcelona initiative in order to visualize it completely and in real time. For this purpose, the individual plant components such as the welding robots are connected via 5G.

The data collected by Multi Access Edge Computing (MEC) is analyzed in real time. The entire process is completed by connecting the physical elements with a digital twin, a virtual model of the factory processes fed by the data received over 5G, allowing precise and agile simulations of different scenarios to optimize decision-making processes.

The data processing and simulations required in the digital twin require a large computing and storage capacity. Here Gestamp works together with the Virtual Data Center on Edge service of the mobile phone company Telefónica. The 5G infrastructure in Barcelona, very close to the Gestamp factory, is being used for this project. The 5G client devices at Gestamp as well as the mobile network were configured that the data traffic generated at the factory goes directly to the MEC, allowing low communication latency with the digital twin. Prior to the project, laboratory tests were conducted with 5G router prototypes to finally select the devices that best fit the project’s requirements.

With this Use Case, Telefónica and Gestamp are marking a new milestone in the implementation of 5G in Spain, which the operator has already pushed forward in 2018 with 5G Technology Cities. To date, Telefónica has completed more than 12 5G projects, according to its own statement. These include cooperation with public administrations, research centers and organizations such as Mobile World Capital Barcelona.