A Regulators Perspective on Digital Twinning for Mobile Communications

Inhalt:
Radio-based communication systems such as 5G and the upcoming 6G are playing an increasingly important role in the industrial environment. Especially in the context of Industry 4.0, flexibility in communication is becoming increasingly important. More and more sensors, actuators or assemblies in general must be securely networked. The use of wired transmission technology is generally considered very reliable, but offers immense disadvantages in terms of flexibility. Moving components, for example rotating units, or Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV)s represent a central weak point here. Especially in the industrial environment, 5G campus networks will provide essential contributions to solving these challenges. However, the use of radio-based transmission technology requires detailed planning, which must be taken into account as early as the design stage of a system, since shadowing or multipath-propagation, for example, could interfere with communication. Especially for Industry 4.0, the Asset Administration Shell (AAS) offers an approach for the preliminary integration of 5Gbased communication into the value chain, which can also be used as a basis for a 5G-Digital Twin (DT). This paper considers the relevance of the topic, the work already underway in industry, and also in standardization. Finally, an exemplary preparation of relevant parameters for the creation of a AAS submodel is given.