In the wake of the metaverse, another buzzword has recently swept the Internet of Things enterprise circle -- 5G LAN
In the 5G era, driven by "4G changes life and 5G changes society", 5G shoulders the mission of "the Internet of everything and the digital transformation of thousands of lines and industries" and needs to help users in vertical industries get connected.
In addition to the advantages of the original cellular LAN, such as resource sharing, fast network deployment, and security protection, 5G LAN further adds new application functions such as layer 2 communication, broadcast/multicast, and improves the penetration rate of LAN in industrial Internet and smart building scenarios.
So, what exactly is a 5G LAN?
What is the 5G LAN?
5G LAN technology is a new feature defined by the 3GPP standard in the R16 stage. It is a private mobile LAN service based on the access capability of 5G terminals and a 5G network. In other words, it provides flexible communication services such as terminal interworking or terminal isolation for the terminals in the group by building "groups" for enterprise terminals and passing them around the service server. The LAN supports point-to-point and point-to-multipoint communication modes based on IP or Ethernet.
To put it simply, 5G technology is used to "group" terminals and "build groups" to form a LAN network.
Industrial IT and OT Fusion
The traditional industrial network is based on wired transmission and a lot of use of Layer 2 Ethernet protocol. To carry out the wireless transformation of the industrial network and cut the braid of industrial Intranet, people have tried to introduce an AR router to configure virtual layer 2 network and realize 5G wireless access of industrial terminal before 5G LAN appeared.
When 5G LAN comes out, it will bring the most prominent and important point. The network built by it can complete the connection with the user's existing data network, to realize plug-and-play and mutual access, eliminating the tedious process of configuring a virtual layer 2 networks by introducing an AR router in the middle and realizing 5G wireless access of industrial equipment.
For this reason, the greatest value of 5G LAN lies in the transformation of the production environment of the park, and the transformation of the basic network of production enterprises such as industrial manufacturing, port terminals and energy mines.
Continue to take industrial manufacturing as an example, 5G LAN has opened up the "two directions" of industrial IT and OT integration in one go. It does not need to add tunnel equipment such as AR routers so that 5G can directly enter the factory Intranet. At the same time, it supports user mobility, the subdivision of subnets, and subnet-based management ability, to realize minimalist networks and flexible configuration, and form integration with industrial networks.
In addition, another important feature that distinguishes 5G LAN from previous features is its support for broadcasting and multicast, which is also applicable to IP layer communication and Layer 2 communication. In the traditional point-to-point communication mode, only unicast is supported. The inter-UPF scenario relies on routing. In the scenario where many UPFs need to communicate with each other, the topology becomes complicated.
The introduction of 5G LAN, especially the network native support layer 2 communication, promotes the integration of the 5G network and industrial network. In addition, 5G LAN technology has significant technical advantages in plug and play, cross-domain networking, network certainty, and other aspects, and has a very broad development prospect in various fields such as park networks, power grid differential protection, industrial PLC, and so on. Especially for the Internet of Things enterprises, the commercial explosion of 5G LAN is inevitable, and it has become a new engine for vertical industries to promote the innovative application of 5G, expand production efficiency, and speed up digital transformation.
Promote 5G Innovation and Application Speed up the New Engine of Digital Transformation
At present, the commercialization process of 5G R16 continues to advance, and end users in the Internet of Things industry are making efforts to occupy a position in the commercial field of 5G LAN. Earlier, chip manufacturers cooperated with their eco-partners to realize the world's first business verification based on the 3GPP R16 protocol version, and launched several 5G R16 module products, which laid an important milestone for the commercialization of the 5G R16 standard.
As a technical expert in the Internet of Things and a pioneer in 5G AIoT technology, Four-Faith has always been one step ahead in the research on 5G industrial terminals. When the 3GPP R16 standard is introduced to the public, Four-Faith 5G industrial router series entered the 5G LAN testing and certification. At present, the series of terminal devices of Four-Faith have supported the key features of 3GPP R16, such as 5G LAN, 5G network multi-slice, high-precision timing, etc., to meet the requirements of 5G R16 application scenarios such as smart grid, smart manufacturing, smart building, smart logistics, and smart port, and to foster a new digital ecology.
Four-Faith 5G Industrial Router Series
Four-Faith 5G industrial router is equipped with the 5G network of operators, providing high-speed and stable network access for remote devices, making the data interaction between terminal devices and platforms more efficient, and meeting users' demands for high-speed, super-large link, ultra-low delay, and secure transmission.
Promote the digital transformation of Enterprises to Realize "Intelligent Connection of Everything
The industrial Internet is the cornerstone of the fourth industrial revolution. As one of the key features defined by the R16 standard, 5G LAN's subversive significance for the "5G industrial era" is also being gradually quantified, becoming an important thrust for factories to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
In the future, with the support of 5G LAN and other innovative capabilities, Four-Faith will continue to maintain the spirit of innovation and research, implement the national mainstream policies and guidelines, and work with industry partners to jointly promote the digital transformation and upgrading of thousands of industries such as smart factories, smart grids, and smart ports, to realize the true "intelligent connection of everything".
