Analysis of ultra-reliable and low-latency 5G communication for a factory automation use case

The fifth generation (5G) of cellular networks is starting to be defined to meet the wireless connectivity demands for 2020 and beyond. One area that is considered increasingly important is the capability to provide ultra-reliable and low-latency communication, to enable e.g., new mission-critical machine-type communication use cases. One such example with extremely demanding requirements is the industrial automation with a need for ultra-low latency with a high degree of determinism. In this paper, we discuss the feasibility, requirements and design challenges of an OFDM based 5G radio interface that is suitable for mission-critical MTC. The discussion is further accompanied with system-level performance evaluations that are carried out for a factory hall-wide automation scenario with two different floor layouts.