5G Enhancing High Availability in Private Networks including Industrial IoT

High availability, commonly referred to as HA in the technology industry, refers to a situation in which, according to Ericsson, "the end user can always use the service. In practice, the network must be built so that downtime is virtually zero and any system maintenance can be controlled, guaranteeing maximum availability. This may include robust solutions and redundancy constructions of critical elements."

I have worked on many redundant HA solutions and they can feel like a "dog chasing its tail." Duplicate, triplicate, and even additional layers of redundancy are, at present, necessary to truly achieve HA. From my experience, you need more than experts in backup power, transmission, radio sets and other areas — you also need to continually test and retest. You need to maintain an outsider’s view as testing often involves accounting not just for expected events, but worst-case scenarios like 9/11, hurricanes, tornados and earthquakes. In one of my favorite projects, the altitude (yes, elevation) was a factor in planning backup generator capacity, as the first generator failed during tests and needed to be upgraded.

An interesting paper from Ericsson on 5G wireless networks notes how cellular connectivity has benefited many industries. The authors note that the internet of things [IoT], which now stands at one billion connections, is projected to hit 5 billion by 2025. The coinciding massive growth in data rates, combined with advances in artificial intelligence, will revolutionize the capacity for HA performance.

Some of the areas noted by Ericsson in which 5G will impact HA include:

- Factory-floor automation and flexibility

- Real-time situation awareness solutions (including sensors, HD video surveillance and massive diagnosis data upload)

- Preventive maintenance

- Workforce management

- Machine utilization optimization

- Risk management (safety area management)

- Remote asset control (sensor monitoring)

- Worker health and safety (with AR/VR or push-to-talk voice)

I would add a few more, including special emergency vehicles and smart protective clothing, including hazmat suits for industrial accidents.

Critical to all of this, as the Ericsson paper notes, is that "interworking with public networks is an important capability." Many critical services like ambulances, police, fire, corporate security and even the military need continuity for live voice, video, chat and recording using wireless communication. The paper also notes that "end-to-end security” is required “to ensure information, infrastructure and people are protected from threats. This involves implementing measures to preserve the three main security principles: confidentiality, integrity and availability." Who knew this would be so hard? Yet it is vital to address, as we have seen bots, spammers, and robocalls all used to attack government institutions, corporations, and people. Again, the paper notes, "private networks utilize network isolation, data protection and device/user authentication to protect key assets. Enterprises can also control retention and data sovereignty to ensure sensitive information is kept on-premises."

Technical Deep Dive

Going into the deep end of the HA tech pool, I am really excited about TSN, or time-sensitive networking, which is an extension of the IEEE ethernet standard to provide reliable and deterministic low-latency communication to be used, for example, in future converged industrial communication networks. It can be utilized with 5G HA features that include "robust physical channels with lower spectral efficiency, new antenna techniques, automatic repetitions, Packet Data Convergence Protocol duplication, and a TSN level of service with reliable deterministic flows and accurate synchronization." TSN is not just about low-latency, aka real-time communication. It provides a standards-based approach to everything on the internet (EoT). I would also add that TSN provides a high level of data security via time synchronization and other applications-specific features. TSN will be a critical part of the 5G HA design and deployment.

Summary - I would like to thank Ericsson for the opportunity to share some thoughts and insights in the exciting and innovative world of 5G. In future articles, I will explore the impact of 5G on business and innovative customer solutions.

References:

IEEE - https://1.ieee802.org/tsn/

https://www.ericsson.com/en/reports-and-papers/white-papers/private-5g-networks

https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/5g/documents/serving-the-5g-powered-business-report.pdf

https://www.ericsson.com/en/5g/5g-networks/get-up-to-5g-speed-before-mwc-2020?utm_source=influencer&utm_medium=social_influencer&utm_campaign=bnew_global_mwc20_20200117