Open Source 5G-NSA Network for Industry 4.0 Applications

Industry 4.0 seeks the digitization and interconnection of all production processes. Due to the huge number of sensors, robots, machines and other devices that need to be interconnected, the Fifth Generation (5G) becomes an enabling technology. In order to address this challenge, this paper presents the implementation procedure of a 5th Generation 5G Non-NSA private network based on Open Air Interface (OAI) and presents the advantages and limitations of OAI that will be useful for academia and the industrial sector. A real use case has been evaluated to demonstrate the capabilities of the network, where an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is remotely controlled and monitored using an open source 5G-NSA private network. This paper presents the key steps of the network implementation and analyzes the results measurement campaign. Indeed, a network created with OAI allows evaluating the benefits of many smart manufacturing solutions but with certain limitations in terms of bit rate, latency and number of active users in the private network.