Huawei Wireless X Labs starts wireless connected factory SIG

Source: Huawei. Wireless Connected Factory Special Interest Group members at their first meeting.

Huawei Wireless X Labs has joined hands with several industry partners to announce the establishment of a Wireless Connected Factory Special Interest Group (SIG). This is the third in a series of SIGs created by X Labs, with others focusing on X Labs’ Digital Sky initiative and wireless ehealth.

The Wireless Connected Factory SIG has brought together partners in the field of smart manufacturing to conduct further research and promote applications of 5G communication technologies in Industry 4.0. X Labs and its partners took over half a year to decide upon the Wireless Connected Factory SIG's four research priorities, namely cloud-based programmable logic controllers (PLC), wireless industrial cameras, wireless controlled automated guided vehicles (AGV), and industrial wearables. SIG members, all of which attended the first SIG meeting, include Huawei, ABB, Efort, Bosch, Beckhoff, Hikrobot, Geely, KUKA, and Shenyang Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Xu Heyuan, Deputy Chief Engineer of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology said: "The release of the 'Internet plus advanced manufacturing' guidelines will promote the development of the industrial Internet and upgrade the traditional manufacturing sector. Wireless distributed intelligent communication technologies are set to play a fundamental role in the transformation of the manufacturing industry. The formation of the Wireless Connected Factory SIG will help accelerate the development of all related technologies. The Industrial Internet Industry Alliance is fully prepared to work with the SIG towards jointly exploring all associated technologies, standards, and industries."

"The mission of exploring future wireless use cases lies with X Labs," said Ying Weimin, Huawei Wireless Research and Development President. "Huawei hopes that SIGs such as those set up by X Labs can discover and inspire many more 5G use cases and promote 5G technologies' application in future smart manufacturing. Such efforts will contribute to the rise of connected factories. Huawei will work diligently alongside its partners to simulate further growth and innovation."

The first SIG meeting also witnessed the signing of several memorandums of understanding (MoUs) between Huawei and ABB, Hikrobot, Effort, Geely, and Beckhoff.

According to an analysis completed by Huawei Wireless X Labs, the connections in the manufacturing sector worldwide will reach 12.5 billion by 2020, with factory networks accounting for US$50 billion of the potential market.