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Smart Factory: Volkswagen is testing 5G

Pilot project at the main plant in Wolfsburg: Volkswagen launches local 5G network in production.  (Image: Volkswagen AG)

Volkswagen is creating a network for its production and has set up a local 5G standalone network at its main plant in Wolfsburg for this purpose. The campus network initially includes the central development center and the production pilot hall. The aim of the pilot project is to test 5G technology under the high demands of car production and to develop it further for future industrial series use.

In order to connect its production assets using 5G technology, Volkswagen has acquired an exclusive 5G radio frequency for secure and delay-free transmission of data and set up its own network in Wolfsburg. A so-called “5G island” was also put into operation at the Transparent Factory in Dresden.

Volkswagen is implementing the construction and operation of the 5G infrastructure under its own management, with the aim of gathering specialist knowledge relevant to competition for the use of this important future technology, as well as ensuring data security.

“With our Accelerate strategy, we are driving the transformation of our Volkswagen sites toward the smart factory at full speed. Our goal is to continuously optimize our production and make it even more efficient and flexible. We see great innovation potential in 5G technology – from the use of intelligent robots and driverless transport systems, to the networked control of plants and machines in real time, to wireless software loading of produced vehicles.”
Christian Vollmer, Member of the Board of Management for Production and Logistics at the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand

Data transmission in real time

There are already around 5,000 robots at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg today, plus many more machines and systems. In the future, their control and monitoring will require secure and delay-free transmission of data. Latency, i.e. the time it takes for data to be sent through the network, is significantly reduced with 5G radio compared to other wireless communication technologies such as WLAN. 5G technology offers extremely short latency times of up to one millisecond, data transmission rates in the gigabit range, and high reliability even under heavy load. This is how wireless communication in real time makes many smart factory applications possible in the first place.

One scenario to be tested in the pilot phase under real laboratory conditions in Wolfsburg is the wireless uploading of data to vehicles in production. With ever higher levels of digitization and fully networked vehicles, the production process will require the transfer of large amounts of data to the cars. 5G makes it possible to perform this “digital refueling” much more quickly as well as flexibly in terms of time during production.

Setting up and operating the 5G network in-house

“For the flexible production of the future, high-performance and wireless communication that takes place in real time is crucial. 5G can be such a driver of the Industrial Internet of Things. We therefore want to gain extensive experience in the operation and industrial use of 5G,” says Beate Hofer, CIO at the Volkswagen Group. In the long term, the campus network at the Wolfsburg site will cover large parts of the 6.5-square-kilometer plant site.

Volkswagen is driving the development and operation of the local 5G infrastructure on its own. For the campus network in Wolfsburg, the company has applied for and been allocated a private radio frequency at 3.7 to 3.8 GHz with 100 MHz bandwidth from the German Federal Network Agency. An exclusive frequency spectrum is a key factor for 5G campus operations within the production site. Only a dedicated frequency enables interference-free, highly available wireless transmission, as it is only used exclusively by Volkswagen for production. The network supplier for the 5G pilot network is the Finnish telecommunications group Nokia.

Gläsernen Manufaktur Dresden tests plant control via 5G.

The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is part of a 5G competence network in the Volkswagen Group. A so-called 5G island has also been put into operation at the Transparent Factory in Dresden, which is testing innovative technologies in regular operation of the ID.3 small series as a pilot factory for the Volkswagen brand. In collaboration with Porsche, Audi and TU Dresden, the networked plant control system is being further developed on an automated guided vehicle (AGV). The sensors of the AGV transfer the environmental data to the cloud computer via 5G. This calculates the driving course to an ID.3 body and sends the information back in real time. The project in Dresden is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.